Regulament Finantare PAC 1306 - 2013 PDF

REGULATION (EU) No 1306/2013 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL
of 17 December 2013
on the financing, management and monitoring of the common agricultural policy and repealing
Council Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC) No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC)
No 1290/2005 and (EC) No 485/2008
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE
EUROPEAN UNION,
Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European
Union, and in particular Article 43(2) thereof,
Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,
After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national
parliaments,
Having regard to the opinion of the Court of Auditors,
Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and
Social Committee (
1
),
Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,
Whereas:
(1) The Communication from the Commission to the
European Parliament, the Council, the European
Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of
the Regions entitled "The CAP towards 2020: Meeting
the food, natural resources and territorial challenges of
the future" examined potential challenges, objectives and
orientations for the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)
after 2013. In the light of the debate on that Communi
cation, the CAP should be reformed with effect from
1 January 2014. That reform should cover all the main
instruments of the CAP, including Council Regulation
(EC) No 1290/2005 (
2
). Experience derived from imple
menting that Regulation shows that certain elements of
the financing and monitoring mechanism need to be
adjusted. In view of the scope of the reform, it is appro
priate to repeal Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and to
replace it with a new text. The reform should also, as far
as possible, harmonise, streamline and simplify its provi
sions.
(2) In order to supplement or amend certain non-essential
elements of this Regulation, the power to adopt delegated
acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the
Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) should be
delegated to the Commission in respect of the accredi
tation of the paying agencies and coordinating bodies,
the obligations of the paying agencies in relation to
public intervention, as well as the rules on the content of
the management and control responsibilities of those
agencies, the measures to be financed by the general
budget of the European Union (the Union's budget)
under public intervention and the valuation of the oper
ations in connection with public intervention. That
empowerment should also cover derogations from the
ineligibility of payments made by the paying agencies
to the beneficiaries before the earliest or the latest
possible date of payment and the compensation
between expenditure and revenues under the European
Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European
Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD). In
addition, that empowerment should cover the methods
applicable to the commitments and the payment of the
amounts if the Union's budget has not been adopted by
the beginning of the financial year or if the total amount
of the commitments scheduled exceeds the threshold laid
down in Article 170(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom)
No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the
Council (
3
).
Furthermore, that empowerment should cover the
deferral of monthly payments by the Commission to
Member States with regard to expenditure under the
EAGF and the conditions governing the reduction or
suspension by the Commission of interim payments to
Member States under the EAFRD. That empowerment
should additionally cover the suspension of monthly
payments or interim payments for which the relevant
statistical information has not been sent in time, the
specific obligations to be complied with by Member
States with regard to checks, the criteria and
methodology for applying corrections in the context of
the conformity clearance procedure and the recovery of
debts. Moreover, that empowerment should cover
requirements with respect to customs procedures, the
withdrawals of aid and penalties in the case of non-
compliance with the eligibility conditions and
commitments or other obligations resulting from the
application of sectoral agricultural legislation. Likewise,
that empowerment should cover market measures for
which the Commission may suspend monthly
payments, rules on securities, on the functioning of the
integrated administration and control system as well as
the measures excluded from the scrutiny of transactions.
Similarly, that empowerment should cover the modifi
cation of the sum of the receipts or payments below
which the commercial document of undertakings
should normally not be scrutinised pursuant to this
Regulation, the penalties applied under cross-compliance,
the control requirements in the wine sector and the rules
EN
20.12.2013 Official Journal of the European Union L 347/549
(
1
) OJ C 191, 29.6.2012, p. 116.
(
2
) Council Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005of 21 June 2005 on the
financing of the common agricultural policy (OJ L 209, 11.8.2005,
p. 1).
(
3
) Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules
applicable to the annual budget of the Union (OJ L 298,
26.10.2012, p. 1).
on maintenance of permanent pasture. Lastly, that
empowerment should cover the rules on the operative
event and the exchange rate to be used by the Member
States not using the euro, measures to safeguard the
application of Union law if exceptional monetary
practices related to national currency are likely to jeop
ardise it, in respect of the content of the common moni
toring and evaluation framework of the measures
adopted under the CAP and in respect of transitional
measures.
It is of particular importance that the Commission carry
out appropriate consultations during its preparatory
work, including at expert level. The Commission, when
preparing and drawing-up delegated acts, should ensure a
simultaneous, timely and appropriate transmission of
relevant documents to the European Parliament and
Council.
(3) The CAP consists of various measures, some of which
relate to rural development. It is important to provide
financing for those measures in order to contribute to
the achievement of the objectives of the CAP. Since those
measures have certain elements in common, but do also
differ in a number of respects, the provisions on their
financing should be dealt with in the same set of provi
sions. Where necessary those provisions should allow for
different treatment. Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005
created two European agricultural funds, namely the
EAGF, and the EAFRD (the "Funds"). Those Funds
should be maintained.
(4) Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 and the
provisions adopted pursuant to it should apply to the
measures set out in this Regulation. In particular, this
Regulation lays down provisions related to the shared
management with Member States based on the principles
of sound financial management, transparency and non-
discrimination, as well as provisions on the function of
accredited bodies, the budgetary principles, provisions
which should be respected in the framework of this
Regulation.
(5) In order to ensure consistency between the practices of
Member States and harmonised application of the force
majeure clause by Member States, this Regulation should
provide, where appropriate, for exemptions in cases of
force majeure and exceptional circumstances, as well as
for a non-exhaustive list of possible cases of force
majeure and exceptional circumstances to be recognised
by the national competent authorities. Those authorities
should take decisions on force majeure or exceptional
circumstances on a case by case basis, on the basis of
relevant evidence and applying the concept of force
majeure in the light of Union agricultural law including
the case law of the Court of Justice.
(6) The Union's budget should finance CAP expenditure,
including expenditure on rural development, through
the Funds either directly or in the context of shared
management with the Member States. The types of
measures that can be financed using the Funds should
be specified.
(7) Provision should be made for the accreditation of paying
agencies by Member States and for the establishment of
the procedures for obtaining management declarations,
and for obtaining the certification of management and
monitoring systems and the certification of annual
accounts by independent bodies. Moreover, in order to
ensure the transparency of national checks, in particular
as regards procedures for authorisation, validation and
payment and to reduce the administrative and audit
burden for the Commission and for the Member States
where accreditation of each individual paying agency is
required, the number of authorities and bodies to which
those responsibilities are delegated should be restricted
while respecting the constitutional arrangements of
each Member State. In order to avoid unnecessary reor
ganisation costs, Member States should be allowed to
maintain the number of paying agencies which have
been accredited before the entry into force of this Regu
lation.
(8) Where a Member State accredits more than one paying
agency, it is important that it designates a single public
coordinating body in order to ensure consistency in the
management of funds, to provide liaison between the
Commission and the various accredited paying agencies
and to ensure that the information requested by the
Commission concerning the operations of several
paying agencies is made rapidly available. The public
coordinating body should also take and coordinate
actions with a view to resolving any deficiencies of a
common nature and should keep the Commission
informed of any follow-up. In addition, that body
should promote and, where possible, ensure homo
geneous application of common rules and standards.
(9) Only when using paying agencies that have been
accredited by the Member States is there reasonable
assurance that the necessary checks have been carried
out before granting Union aid to beneficiaries. It
should, therefore, be explicitly laid down in this Regu
lation that only expenditure effected by accredited paying
agencies can be reimbursed from the Union's budget.
(10) In order to help beneficiaries to become more aware of
the relationship between agricultural practices and
management of farms on the one hand, and standards
relating to the environment, climate change, good agri
cultural condition of land, food safety, public health,
animal health, plant health and animal welfare on the
other, it is necessary for Member States to establish a
comprehensive farm advisory system offering advice to
beneficiaries. That farm advisory system should not, in
any way, affect the obligation and responsibility of bene
ficiaries to respect those standards. Furthermore, a clear
separation between advice and checks should be ensured
by the Member States.
EN
L 347/550 Official Journal of the European Union 20.12.2013
(11) The farm advisory system should cover at least the
obligations at farm level resulting from cross-compliance
standards and requirements. That system should also
cover the requirements to be respected in relation to
the agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and
the environment and the maintenance of the agricultural
area under Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the
European Parliament and of the Council (
1
) and
measures at farm level provided for in rural development
programmes aiming at farm modernisation, competi
tiveness building, sectoral integration, innovation,
market orientation and promotion of entrepreneurship.
That system should also cover the requirements imposed
on beneficiaries by Member States in order to implement
specific provisions of Directive 2000/60/EC of the
European Parliament and the Council (
2
) and for imple
menting Article 55 of Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of
the European Parliament and of the Council (
3
), in
particular requirements concerning the compliance with
the general principles of integrated pest management as
referred to in Article 14 of Directive 2009/128/EC of the
European Parliament and the Council (
4
).
(12) Entry into the farm advisory system should be on a
voluntary basis for beneficiaries. All beneficiaries, even
farmers not receiving support under the CAP, should
be allowed to participate in the system. It should,
however, be possible for Member States to set priority
criteria. Due to the nature of the system, it is appropriate
for the information obtained during the advisory activity
to be treated as confidential, except in the case of serious
infringements of Union or national law. In order to
ensure the efficiency of the system, advisors should be
suitably qualified and regularly trained.
(13) In respect of the EAGF, the financial resources required
to cover the expenditure effected by the accredited
paying agencies, should be made available to the
Member States by the Commission in the form of
reimbursements against the booking of the expenditure
effected by those agencies. Until such reimbursements
have been paid, in the form of monthly payments,
financial resources are to be mobilised by the Member
States depending on the needs of their accredited paying
agencies. The administrative and personnel costs of the
Member States and the beneficiaries involved in the
implementation of the CAP should be borne by them
selves.
(14) The use of the agro-meteorological system and the
acquisition and improvement of satellite images should
provide the Commission with, in particular, the means to
manage agricultural markets, to facilitate the monitoring
of agricultural expenditure and to monitor agricultural
resources in the medium and long term. Also, in the
light of the experience gained with the application of
Council Regulation (EC) No 165/94 (
5
), some of its
provisions should be incorporated in this Regulation
and, consequently, Regulation (EC) No 165/94 should
be repealed.
(15) In the context of respecting budget discipline, it is
necessary to define the annual ceiling for the expenditure
financed by the EAGF by taking into account the
maximum amounts laid down for that Fund under the
multiannual financial framework provided for in Council
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 (
6
).
(16) Budget discipline also requires the annual ceiling for
expenditure financed by the EAGF to be respected in
all circumstances and at every stage of the budget
procedure and of the execution of the budget.
Consequently, it is necessary for the national ceiling for
the direct payments per Member State set out in Regu
lation (EU) No 1307/2013 to be regarded as a financial
ceiling for such direct payments for the Member State
concerned and for the reimbursement of those payments
remain within this financial ceiling. Furthermore, budget
discipline requires that all Union legal acts in the CAP
field that are proposed by the Commission or adopted by
the Union or by the Commission and that are financed
by the EAGF comply with the annual ceiling for the
expenditure financed by that Fund.
(17) With a view to ensuring that the amounts for the
financing of the CAP comply with the annual ceilings,
the financial mechanism referred to in Council Regu
lation (EC) No 73/2009 (
7
) by which the level of direct
support is adjusted, should be maintained. Where the
European Parliament and the Council do not fix them
before 30 June of the calendar year in respect of which
they apply, the Commission should be authorised to set
those adjustments.
EN
(
1
) Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing rules for direct
payments to farmers under support schemes within the framework
of the common agricultural policy and repealing Council Regu
lations (EC) No 637/2008 and (EC) No 73/2009 (See page 608 of
this Official Journal).
(
2
) Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and the Council
establishing a framework for Community action in the field of water
policy (OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1).
(
3
) Regulation (EC) No 1107/2009 of the European Parliament and of
the Council concerning the placing of plant protection products on
the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC and
91/414/EEC (OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 1).
(
4
) Directive 2009/128/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for
Community action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides
(OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 71).
(
5
) Council Regulation (EC) No 165/94 of 24 January 1994 concerning
the co-financing by the Community of remote-sensing checks
(OJ L 24, 29.1.1994, p. 6).
(
6
) Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 of 2 December
2013 laying down the multiannual financial framework for the
years 2014-2020 (See page 884 of this Official Journal).
(
7
) Council Regulation (EC) No 73/2009 of 19 January 2009 estab
lishing common rules for direct support schemes for farmers
under the common agricultural policy and establishing certain
support schemes for farmers, amending Regulations (EC)
No 1290/2005, (EC) No 247/2006, (EC) No 378/2007 and
repealing Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 (OJ L 30, 31.1.2009,
p. 16).
(18) In order to support the agricultural sector in case of
major crises affecting the agricultural production or
distribution, a reserve for crises should be established
by applying, at the beginning of each year, a reduction
to direct payments through the financial discipline mech
anism.
(19) Article 169(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012
provides that non-committed appropriations relating to
the actions referred to in Article 4(1) of this Regulation
may be carried over only to the following financial year
and that such carryover may lead to an additional
payment only to the final recipients who were subject,
in the preceding financial year, to the adjustment of
direct payments as referred to in Article 25 of this Regu
lation. Consequently, where appropriations are thus
carried over to the following financial year, the
national administrations would have to make payments
to two populations of beneficiaries of direct payments in
one financial year: on the one hand, reimbursing, from
the unused amount of financial discipline carried-over, to
farmers subject to financial discipline during the
preceding financial year on the other hand, making the
direct payments in financial year N to those farmers
having claimed them. In order to avoid an excessive
administrative burden for national administrations, a
derogation from the fourth subparagraph of
Article 169(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012
should be provided for, allowing the national adminis
trations to reimburse the amount carried over to financial
year N to farmers subject to financial discipline in year N
instead of to farmers who are subject to it in year N-1.
(20) The measures taken to determine the financial
contribution from the Funds in respect of the calculation
of financial ceilings do not affect the powers of the
budgetary authority designated by the TFEU. Those
measures should therefore be based on the reference
amounts fixed in accordance with the Interinstitutional
Agreement of 19 November 2013 between the European
Parliament, the Council and the Commission on
budgetary discipline, on cooperation in budgetary
matters and on sound financial management and Regu
lation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013.
(21) Budget discipline also requires a continuous examination
of the medium-term budget situation. The Commission,
when submitting the draft budget for a given year,
should therefore present its forecasts and analyses to
the European Parliament and to the Council and
should propose, if necessary, appropriate measures to
the legislator. Furthermore, the Commission should
make full use of its management powers at all times to
ensure compliance with the annual ceiling and, if
necessary, should propose appropriate measures to the
European Parliament and to the Council or to the
Council to redress the budget situation. If, at the end
of a budget year, the annual ceiling cannot be
complied with as a result of the reimbursements
requested by the Member States, the Commission
should be able to take measures allowing the provisional
distribution of the available budget among the Member
States in proportion to their as yet unpaid requests for
reimbursement, as well as measures ensuring compliance
with the ceiling fixed for the year concerned. Payments
for that year should be charged to the following budget
year and the total amount of Union financing per
Member State should be definitively established, as
should compensation between Member States in order
to ensure that the established amount is complied with.
(22) When implementing the budget, the Commission should
operate a monthly early-warning and monitoring system
for agricultural expenditure so that, if there is a risk of
the annual ceiling being exceeded, the Commission may
at the earliest opportunity take the appropriate measures
under the management powers at its disposal and
propose other measures if those measures appear to be
insufficient. A periodic report by the Commission to the
European Parliament and to the Council should compare
the evolution of the expenditure effected to date in
relation to the profiles and should give an assessment
of the foreseeable implementation for the remainder of
the budget year.
(23) The exchange rate used by the Commission when
drawing up the budget documents should reflect the
most recent information available, making allowances
for the time lag between drafting and submission.
(24) Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the Council (
1
) lays down rules
which apply to the financial support from the funds
covered by that Regulation, including the EAFRD.
Those rules also cover eligibility of expenditure, on
financial management and the management and control
systems. As regards the financial management of the
EAFRD, for the sake of legal clarity and coherence
between the Funds covered by this Regulation,
reference should be made to the relevant provisions on
the budget commitments, payment deadlines and decom
mitment of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.
(25) The rural development programmes are financed from
the Union budget on the basis of commitments made
in annual instalments. Member States should be able to
draw on the Union funds provided for as soon as they
begin the programmes. A suitably restricted prefinancing
system is therefore needed, to ensure a steady flow of
funds so that payments to beneficiaries under the
programmes are made at the appropriate time.
EN
(
1
the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions
on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social
Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund covered
by the Common Strategic Framework and laying down general
provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the
European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund and repealing Regu
lation (EC) No 1083/2006 (See page 320 of this Official Journal).
(26) Prefinancing apart, it is necessary to make a distinction
between the payments by the Commission to the
accredited paying agencies interim payments and the
payment of balances, and to lay down detailed rules on
their payment. The automatic decommitment rule should
help speed up execution of programmes and contribute
to sound financial management. The rules on the
national frameworks of Member States with regional
programmes as set out in Regulation (EU)
No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the
Council (
1
) also provide a tool for Member States to
ensure execution and sound financial management.
(27) Union aid should be paid to beneficiaries in good time so
that they may use it efficiently. A failure by the Member
States to comply with the payment deadlines laid down
in Union law might create serious difficulties for the
beneficiaries and could jeopardise the Union's yearly
budgeting. Therefore, expenditure made without
respecting deadlines for payments should be excluded
from Union financing. The principle of proportionality
laid down in Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 should be
maintained and should apply to both the Funds. In order
to respect the principle of proportionality, the
Commission should be able to provide for exceptions
to this general rule.
(28) Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 provides for reductions
and suspensions of monthly or interim payments for the
Funds. Despite the rather broad wording of those provi
sions, in practice they are used essentially to reduce
payments for non-compliance with payment deadlines,
ceilings and similar "accounting issues" which can
readily be detected in the declarations of expenditure.
Those provisions also allow reductions and suspensions
in case of serious and persistent deficiencies in national
control systems. The imposition of such reductions and
suspensions are, however, made subject to rather
restrictive substantive conditions for doing so and
providing for a special, two-step procedure to be
followed. The European Parliament and the Council
have repeatedly asked the Commission to suspend
payments to non-compliant Member States. For these
reasons, it is necessary to clarify the system provided
for in Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 for reductions
and suspensions and to merge the rules on reductions
and suspensions for both the Funds into one single
Article. The system of reductions for "accounting
issues" should be maintained in line with the existing
administrative practice. The possibility of reducing or
suspending payments where there are significant and
persistent deficiencies in national control systems
should be reinforced in order to provide the Commission
with the possibility of suspending payments rapidly when
serious deficiencies are detected. That possibility should
also be extended to include negligence in the system for
recovery of irregular payments.
(29) Sectoral agricultural legislation requires Member States to
send information on the numbers of checks carried out
and on their outcomes within specified deadlines. Those
control statistics are used to determine the level of error
at Member State level and, more generally, for the
purposes of checking the management of the Funds.
The control statistics are an important source of
information for the Commission to satisfy itself as to
the correct management of the Funds and are an
essential element of the annual declaration of assurance.
Given the vital nature of the control statistics and in
order to ensure that Member States respect their
obligation to send it in time, it is necessary to provide
a deterrent for late provision of the data required which
is proportionate to the extent of the data deficit.
Therefore, provisions should be put in place to allow
the Commission to suspend part of the monthly or
interim payments in respect of which the relevant stat
istical information has not been sent in time.
(30) In order to allow funds from the Funds to be reused,
rules are needed on the assignment of specific sums. The
list contained in Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 should
be completed by adding to it the sums relating to late
payments and to the clearance of accounts as regards
expenditure under the EAGF. Also, Council Regulation
(EEC) No 352/78 (
2
) laid down rules on the destinations
of the sums resulting from forfeited securities. Those
provisions should be harmonised and merged with the
existing provisions on assigned revenue. Regulation (EEC)
No 352/78 should therefore be repealed.
(31) Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 (
3
) and its imple
menting rules define the information measures relating to
the CAP which may be financed under point (c) of
Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005. Regulation
(EC) No 814/2000 contains a list of those measures and
their objectives and fixes the rules on their financing and
on the implementation of the corresponding projects.
Since the adoption of that Regulation, rules have been
adopted by Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 on
grants and procurement. Those rules should apply also to
the information measures under the CAP. For reasons of
simplification and coherence, Regulation (EC)
No 814/2000 should be repealed while maintaining the
EN
(
1
the Council of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development
by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD)
and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 (See page 487
of this Official Journal).
(
2
) Council Regulation (EEC) No 352/78 of 20 February 1978 on the
crediting of securities, deposits and guarantees furnished under the
common agricultural policy and subsequently forfeited (OJ L 50,
22.2.1978, p. 1).
(
3
) Council Regulation (EC) No 814/2000 of 17 April 2000 on
information measures relating to the common agricultural policy
(OJ L 100, 20.4.2000, p. 7).
specific provisions relating to the objectives and types of
measures to be financed. Those measures should also
take into account the need to ensure more efficiency in
communication to the public at large and stronger
synergies between the communication activities
undertaken on the initiative of the Commission as well
as of the need to ensure that the Union's political
priorities are communicated effectively. Therefore, they
should also cover information measures relevant to the
CAP in the framework of the corporate communication
as referred to in the Communication from the
Commission: A Budget for Europe 2020 ("the
Commission Communication on a Budget for Europe
2020") - Part II: Policy fiches.
(32) The financing of measures and operations under the CAP
in part involves shared management. To ensure that
Union funds are soundly managed, the Commission
should perform checks on the management of the
Funds by the Member State authorities responsible for
making payments. It is appropriate to define the nature
of the checks to be performed by the Commission, to
specify the terms of its responsibilities for implementing
the budget and to clarify the Member States' cooperation
obligations.
(33) In order to allow the Commission to fulfil its obligation
to check the existence and proper functioning of
management and inspection systems for Union expen
diture in the Member States, provision should be made,
irrespective of the inspections carried out by Member
States themselves, for checks by persons authorised by
the Commission to act on its behalf who should be able
to request assistance from the Member States in their
work.
(34) Information technology needs to be used as extensively
as possible in order to produce the information to be
sent to the Commission. When carrying out checks, the
Commission should have full and immediate access to
expenditure information recorded in both paper and elec
tronic form.
(35) In order to establish the financial relationship between
the accredited paying agencies and the Union budget, the
Commission should clear the accounts of those paying
agencies annually (financial clearance of accounts). The
decision of the clearance of accounts should cover the
completeness, accuracy and veracity of the accounts but
not the conformity of the expenditure with Union law.
(36) The Commission is responsible for the implementation
of the budget of the European Union in cooperation with
Member States in accordance with Article 317 TFEU. The
Commission is empowered to decide, by means of imple
menting acts, whether the expenditure effected by the
Member States complies with Union law. Member
States should be given the right to justify their
decisions to make payments and should have recourse
to conciliation where there is no common agreement
between them and the Commission. In order to give
Member States legal and financial assurances as to expen
diture effected in the past, a maximum period should be
set for the Commission to decide which financial
consequences should follow from non-compliance. As
regards the EAFRD, the conformity clearance procedure
should be in line with the provisions on the financial
corrections by the Commission as laid down in Part 2
of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.
(37) As regards the EAGF, sums recovered should be paid
back to that Fund where the expenditure is not in
conformity with Union law and no entitlement existed.
In order to allow sufficient time for all the necessary
administrative proceedings, including internal checks,
Member States should request recovery from the bene
ficiary within 18 months after a control report or similar
document, stating that an irregularity has taken place, has
been approved and, where applicable, received by the
paying agency or body responsible for the recovery.
Provision should be made for a system of financial
responsibility where irregularities have been committed
and where the total amount has not been recovered. In
this respect a procedure should be established enabling
the Commission to safeguard the interests of the Union
budget by deciding on partial charging to the Member
State concerned of the sums lost as a result of irregu
larities and not recovered within a reasonable period. In
certain cases of negligence by the Member State, it is also
right to charge the full sum to the Member State
concerned. However, subject to Member States
complying with obligations under their internal
procedures, the financial burden should be divided
fairly between the Union and the Member State. The
same rules should apply to the EAFRD, subject
however, to the requirement that sums recovered or
cancelled following irregularities should remain available
to the approved rural development programmes of the
Member State concerned as those sums have been
allocated to that Member State. Provisions on the
reporting obligation for Member States should also be
established.
(38) The recovery procedures used by the Member States may
have the effect of delaying recovery for a number of
years, with no guarantee that the outcome will actually
be successful. The cost of implementing those procedures
may also be disproportionate to the amounts which are
or may be collected. Consequently, Member States should
be permitted to halt recovery procedures in certain cases.
EN
(39) In order to protect the financial interests of the Union's
budget, measures should be taken by Member States to
satisfy themselves that transactions financed by the Funds
are actually carried out and are executed correctly.
Member States should also prevent, detect and deal effec
tively with any irregularities or non-compliance with
obligations committed by beneficiaries. To this end,
Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 (
1
)
should apply. In cases of infringement of the sectoral
agricultural legislation, where detailed rules on adminis
trative penalties have not been laid down by Union legal
acts, Member States should impose national penalties
which should be effective, dissuasive and proportionate.
(40) The funding, under the CAP, of activities which generate
additional costs in other policy areas covered by the
general budget of the European Union, especially
environment and public health, should be avoided. In
addition, the introduction of new payment systems,
and related monitoring and penalty systems, should not
result in unnecessary additional administrative procedures
and red tape.
(41) Rules relating to the general principles applicable to
checks, to withdrawals of undue payments and to the
imposition of penalties are contained in various sectoral
agricultural regulations. Those rules should be collected
in the same legal framework at a horizontal level. They
should cover the obligations of the Member States as
regards administrative and on-the-spot checks, the
purpose of which is to check compliance with the
provisions of the CAP measures, and should cover the
rules on the recovery of aid, and the reduction and
exclusion of aid. Rules on checks of obligations not
necessarily linked to the payment of an aid should be
laid down as well.
(42) Various provisions of the sectoral agricultural legislation
require that a security be lodged to ensure the payment
of a sum due if an obligation is not met. In order to
strengthen the framework for securities, a single hori
zontal rule should apply to all those provisions.
(43) Member State should set up and operate an integrated
administration and control system (the "integrated
system") for certain payments provided for in Regulation
(EU) No 1307/2013 and in Regulation (EU)
No 1305/2013. In order to improve the effectiveness
and monitoring of Union support, Member States
should be authorised to make use of the integrated
system for other Union support schemes.
(44) The main elements of the integrated system and, in
particular, the provisions concerning a computerised
database, an identification system for agricultural
parcels, aid applications or payment claims and a
system for the identification and recording of payment
entitlements should be maintained, whilst taking into
account the evolution of the policy, in particular, by
the introduction of payment for agricultural practices
beneficial for the climate and the environment and the
ecological benefits of landscape features. With a view to
reducing the administrative burden and ensuring efficient
and effective controls, Member States should make
appropriate use of technology when setting up those
systems.
(45) For the purpose of creating a reference layer in the
identification system for agricultural parcels that is
adapted to the ecological focus areas, Member States
should be able to take account of specific information
which may be required from farmers in their applications
for claim years 2015 to 2017, such as the identification
of those landscape features or other areas which may
qualify as ecological focus areas and, where necessary,
the size of such features and other areas.
(46) Competent national authorities should make the
payments provided for in Union support schemes
covered by the integrated system to beneficiaries in full,
subject to any reductions provided for in this Regulation,
and within the prescribed periods. In order to render the
management of direct payments more flexible, Member
States should be allowed to make payments covered by
the integrated system in up to two instalments per year.
(47) Scrutiny of the commercial documents of undertakings
that are receiving or making payments can be a very
effective means of surveillance of transactions forming
part of the system of financing by the EAGF. The
provisions on the scrutiny of the commercial
documents are laid down in Council Regulation (EC)
No 485/2008 (
2
). That scrutiny supplements other
checks already carried out by the Member States.
Furthermore, where national provisions relating to
scrutiny are more extensive than those provided for in
that Regulation, they are not affected by it.
(48) Under Regulation (EC) No 485/2008, Member States
should take the measures necessary to ensure effective
protection of the financial interests of the Union
budget, and in particular, in order to check the genu
ineness and compliance of operations financed by the
EAGF. In the interests of clarity and rationalisation, the
relevant provisions should be integrated into the same
act. Regulation (EC) No 485/2008 should therefore be
repealed.
EN
(
1
) Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95 of 18 December
1995 on the protection of the European Communities financial
interests (OJ L 312, 23.12.1995, p. 1).
(
2
) Council Regulation (EC) No 485/2008 of 26 May 2008 on scrutiny
by Member States of transactions forming part of the system of
financing by the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (OJ L 143,
3.6.2008, p. 1).
(49) The documents used as a basis for such scrutiny should
be determined in such a way as to enable a full scrutiny
to be carried out. The undertakings to be scrutinised
should be selected on the basis of the nature of the
transactions carried out under their responsibility and
the breakdown per sector of the undertakings receiving
or making payments should be selected according to
their financial importance in the system of financing by
the EAGF.
(50) The powers of the officials responsible for scrutiny and
the obligations on undertakings to make commercial
documents available to such officials for a specified
period, as well as to supply such information as may
be requested by them, should be defined. It should be
possible for commercial documents to be seized in
certain cases.
(51) Having regard to the international structure of agri
cultural trade and in the interest of the functioning of
the internal market, it is necessary to organise
cooperation among the Member States. It is also
necessary to set up a centralised documentation system
at Union level concerning undertakings receiving or
making payments established in third countries.
(52) While it is the responsibility of the Member States to
adopt their scrutiny programmes, it is necessary for
those programmes to be communicated to the
Commission so that it can assume its supervisory and
coordinating role, in order to ensure that the
programmes are adopted on the basis of appropriate
criteria and to guarantee that the scrutiny is concentrated
on sectors or undertakings where the risk of fraud is
high. It is essential that each Member State has a
special department responsible for monitoring the
scrutiny of commercial documents provided for in this
Regulation or for coordinating that scrutiny. Those
special departments should be organised independently
of the departments carrying out scrutiny prior to
payment. Information collected during that scrutiny
should be protected by professional confidentiality.
(53) Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 (
1
), which was
replaced by Regulation (EC) No 73/2009, established
the principle that the full payment to beneficiaries of
some supports under the CAP should be linked to
compliance with rules relating to land management, agri
cultural production and agricultural activity. That
principle was subsequently reflected in Council Regu
lation (EC) No 1698/2005 (
2
) and Council Regulation
(EC) No 1234/2007 (
3
).
Under the resulting 'cross-compliance' system Member
States are to impose penalties in the form of the
reduction or exclusion of support received under the
CAP in whole or in part.
(54) That cross-compliance system incorporates in the CAP
basic standards concerning the environment, climate
change, good agricultural and environmental condition
of land, public health, animal health, plant health and
animal welfare. Cross-compliance aims to contribute to
the development of sustainable agriculture through better
awareness on the part of beneficiaries of the need to
respect those basic standards. It aims also to contribute
to make the CAP more compatible with the expectation
of society through improving consistency of that policy
with the environment, public health, animal health, plant
health and animal welfare policies. The cross-compliance
system forms an integral part of the CAP and should
therefore be maintained. Its scope, however, which
consists so far in separate lists of statutory management
requirements and standards of good agricultural and
environmental condition of land should be streamlined
so that consistency of the cross-compliance system is
ensured and made more visible. For this purpose, the
requirements and standards should be organised in a
single list and grouped by areas and issues. Experience
has also shown that a number of the requirements within
the scope of cross-compliance are not sufficiently
relevant to farming activity or the area of the holding
or concern national authorities rather than beneficiaries.
Consequently, that scope should be adjusted. Provision
should furthermore be made for the maintenance of
permanent pasture in 2015 and 2016.
(55) Statutory management requirements need to be fully
implemented by Member States in order to become oper
ational at farm level and ensure the necessary equal
treatment of farmers.
(56) According to Article 22 of Directive 2000/60/EC,
Council Directive 80/68/EEC (
4
) is to be repealed on
23 December 2013. In order to maintain the same
cross-compliance rules relating to protection of
groundwater as those laid down in Directive 80/68/EEC
as at the last day of the validity of that Directive, it is
EN
(
1
) Council Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 of 29 September 2003
establishing common rules for direct support schemes under the
common agricultural policy and establishing certain support
schemes for farmers and amending Regulations (EEC) No 2019/93,
(EC) No 1452/2001, (EC) No 1453/2001, (EC) No 1454/2001, (EC)
1868/94, (EC) No 1251/1999, (EC) No 1254/1999, (EC)
No 1673/2000, (EEC) No 2358/71 and (EC) No 2529/2001 (OJ
L 270, 21.10.2003, p. 1).
(
2
) Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on
support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund
for Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ L 277, 21.10.2005, p. 1).
(
3
) Council Regulation (EC) No 1234/2007 of 22 October 2007 estab
lishing a common organisation of agricultural markets and on
specific provisions for certain agricultural products (Single CMO
Regulation) (OJ L 299, 16.11.2007, p. 1).
(
4
) Council Directive 80/68/EEC of 17 December 1979 on the
protection of groundwater against pollution caused by certain
dangerous substances (OJ L 20, 26.1.1980, p. 43).
appropriate to adjust the scope of cross-compliance and
to define a standard of good agricultural and environ
mental condition that encompasses the requirements of
Articles 4 and 5 of that Directive.
(57) The cross-compliance system implies certain adminis
trative constraints for both beneficiaries and national
administrations since record keeping has to be ensured,
checks have to be carried out and where necessary
penalties have to be applied. Those penalties should be
proportionate, effective and dissuasive. Such penalties
should be without prejudice to other penalties laid
down under Union or national law. For the sake of
consistency, it is appropriate to merge the relevant
Union provisions into one single legal instrument. For
farmers participating in the small farmers scheme
referred to in Title V of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013,
the efforts to be made under the cross-compliance
system might be considered to exceed the benefit of
keeping those farmers under that system. For reasons
of simplification, those farmers should therefore be
exempted from cross-compliance and in particular from
its control system and from the risk of cross-compliance
penalties. However, that exemption should be without
prejudice to the obligation to respect the applicable
provisions of the sectoral law or to the possibility to
be checked and to be imposed penalties under that law.
(58) Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 established a framework
of standards of good agricultural and environmental
condition of the land within which Member States are
to adopt national standards taking account of the specific
characteristics of the areas concerned, including soil and
climatic conditions and existing farming systems (land
use, crop rotation, farming practices) and farm structures.
Those standards of good agricultural and environmental
condition of the land aim to contribute to preventing soil
erosion, maintaining soil organic matter and soil
structure, ensuring a minimum level of maintenance,
avoiding the deterioration of habitats and protecting
and managing water. The wider scope of the cross-
compliance system as laid down in this Regulation
should therefore include a framework within which
Member States are to adopt national standards of good
agricultural and environmental condition. The Union
framework should also include rules to better address
water, soil, carbon stock, biodiversity and landscape
issues as well as minimum level of maintenance of the
land.
(59) Beneficiaries should understand their compliance
obligations clearly in relation to the rules on cross-
compliance. For that purpose, all requirements and
standards forming part of those rules should be
communicated by Member States in an exhaustive,
understandable and explanatory way, including, where
possible, by electronic means.
(60) An effective implementation of cross-compliance requires
verification that obligations are respected at the level of
beneficiaries. Where a Member State decides to make use
of the option not to apply a reduction or exclusion
where the amount concerned is less than EUR 100, the
competent control authority should, for a sample of
beneficiaries in the following year, verify that the non-
compliance concerned has been remedied.
(61) To ensure harmonious cooperation between the
Commission and the Member States regarding the
financing of CAP expenditure and, more particularly, to
allow the Commission to monitor the financial
management by the Member States and to clear the
accounts of the accredited paying agencies, it is
necessary for certain information to be communicated
by the Member States or to be kept available to the
Commission.
(62) For the purposes of compiling the data to be sent to the
Commission, and to allow the Commission to have full
immediate access to expenditure data in both paper and
electronic form, suitable rules on the presentation and
transmission of data, including rules on time limits,
need to be laid down.
(63) As personal data or business secrets might be involved in
the application of the national control systems and the
conformity clearance, the Member States and the
Commission should guarantee the confidentiality of the
information received in that context.
(64) In the interests of sound financial management of the
Union's budget and impartiality of treatment at both
Member State and beneficiary level, rules on the use of
the euro should be laid down.
(65) The rate of exchange of the euro into national currencies
may vary in the course of the period during which an
operation is carried out. Therefore, the rate applicable to
the amounts concerned should be determined taking into
account the event through which the economic objective
of the operation is achieved. The rate of exchange applied
should be that applicable for the date on which that
event occurs. It is necessary to specify this operative
event or to waive its application, whilst complying
with certain criteria and in particular those concerning
the rapidity with which currency movements are passed
on. Those criteria are laid down in Council Regulation
(EC) No 2799/98 (
1
) and they complete similar
provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005. In the
interests of clarity and rationalisation, the relevant
provisions should be integrated into the same act and
Regulation (EC) No 2799/98 should therefore be
repealed.
EN
(
1
) Council Regulation (EC) No 2799/98 of 15 December 1998 estab
lishing agrimonetary arrangements for the euro (OJ L 349,
24.12.1998, p. 1).
(66) Special rules should be laid down for dealing with excep
tional monetary situations arising either within the Union
or on the world market and requiring immediate action
to ensure that the arrangements established under the
CAP operate effectively.
(67) Member States that have not adopted the euro should
have the option of making payments for expenditure
resulting from the CAP legislation in euro rather than
in national currency. Specific rules are needed to ensure
that this option does not lead to any unjustified
advantage for parties making or receiving payment.
(68) Each measure under the CAP should be subject to moni
toring and evaluation in order to improve its quality and
to demonstrate its achievements. In this context a list of
indicators should be determined and the performance of
the CAP should be assessed by the Commission in
relation to the policy objectives of viable food
production, the sustainable management of natural
resources and climate action and balanced territorial
development. In assessing, in particular, the performance
of the CAP in relation to the objective of viable food
production, all relevant factors, including the evolution of
input prices, should be taken into account. The
Commission should set up a framework for a common
monitoring and evaluation system ensuring inter alia that
relevant data, including information from Member States
is available on a timely manner. In so doing it should
take account of the data needs and of the synergies
between potential data sources. Moreover, the
Commission Communication on A Budget for Europe
2020 - Part II stated that the climate related expenditure
in the overall Union budget should increase to at least
20 %, with contributions from different policies. The
Commission should therefore be able to assess the
impact of the Union's support within the framework of
the CAP, for climate objectives.
(69) Union law concerning the protection of individuals with
regard to the processing of personal data and on the free
movement of such data is applicable, in particular
Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of
the Council (
1
) and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the
European Parliament and of the Council (
2
).
(70) In its judgment of 9 November 2010 in Joined Cases C-
92/09 and 93/09 (
3
) Volker und Markus Schecke GbR and
Hartmut Eifert v Land Hessen the Court of Justice of the
European Union declared point (8b) of Article 42 and
Article 44a of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and
Commission Regulation (EC) No 259/2008 (
4
) to be
invalid in so far as, with regard to natural persons bene
fiting from the European agricultural funds, those
provisions imposed an obligation to publish personal
data relating to each beneficiary without drawing a
distinction based on relevant criteria such as the
periods during which those persons have received such
aid, the frequency of such aid or the nature and amount
thereof.
(71) Following that judgment and pending the adoption of
new rules taking account of the objections expressed
by the Court, Regulation (EC) No 259/2008 was
amended by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU)
No 410/2011 (
5
) in order to expressly lay down that the
obligation to publish the information is not to apply to
natural persons.
(72) In September 2011, the Commission organised a consul
tation of stakeholders that brought together represen
tatives of professional agricultural and trade organi
sations, representatives of the food industry and
workers, as well as representatives of civil society and
Union institutions. In the course of that consultation
different options were put forward concerning the
publication of data of natural persons benefiting from
Union agricultural funds and concerning respect for the
principle of proportionality when making relevant
information available to the public. That conference
discussed the need to publish the names of natural
persons in order to respond to the objective of better
protection of the Union's financial interests, to enhance
transparency and to highlight the achievements of bene
ficiaries in providing public goods while ensuring that
that publication does not go beyond what is necessary
for achieving these legitimate aims.
(73) In its judgment in Volker und Markus Schecke GbR and
Hartmut Eifert v Land Hessen, the Court did not contest
the legitimacy of the objective of reinforcing public
control of the use of the money from the Funds.
However, the Court did emphasise the need to consider
methods of publishing information relating to the bene
ficiaries concerned which are consistent with the
objective of such publication while at the same time
causing less interference with those beneficiaries' right
to respect for their private life in general and to
protection of their personal data in particular.
EN
(
1
) Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 24 October 1995 on the protection of individuals with regard to
the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such
data (OJ L 281, 23.11.1995, p. 31).
(
2
) Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with
regard to the processing of personal data by the Community insti
tutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data (OJ L 8,
12.1.2001, p. 1).
(
3
) [2010] ECR I-11063.
(
4
) Commission Regulation (EC) No 259/2008 of 18 March 2008
laying down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation
(EC) No 1290/2005 as regards the publication of information on the
beneficiaries of funds deriving from the European Agricultural
Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for
Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ L 76, 19.3.2008, p. 28).
(
5
) Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 410/2011 of
27 April 2011 amending Regulation (EC) No 259/2008 laying
down detailed rules for the application of Council Regulation (EC)
No 1290/2005 as regards the publication of information on the
beneficiaries of funds deriving from the European Agricultural
Guarantee Fund (EAGF) and the European Agricultural Fund for
Rural Development (EAFRD) (OJ L 108, 28.4.2011, p. 24).
(74) The objective of reinforcing public control in respect of
individual beneficiaries should be analysed in the light of
the new financial management and control framework to
be applied from 1 January 2014 and in the light of
experience gained in Member States. Within that new
framework, it is not possible for the controls by the
national administrations to be exhaustive, in particular,
since for almost all schemes, only a limited part of the
population can be checked on-the-spot. Moreover, that
new framework provides that, subject to certain
conditions, Member States may reduce the number of
on-the-spot checks.
A sufficient increase of the minimum control rates
would, in the present context, put such an additional
financial and administrative burden on the national
administrations that those administrations would be
unable to cope.
(75) Against that background, the publication of the name of
the beneficiaries of the Funds provides a means of
reinforcing the public control of the use of the Funds
and, therefore, is a useful addition to the existing
management and control framework and is necessary
to ensure an adequate level of protection of the
Union's financial interest. That is achieved partly by the
preventive and deterrent effect of such publication, partly
by discouraging individual beneficiaries from irregular
behaviour and also partly by reinforcing the personal
accountability of the farmers for use of public funds
received.
(76) In this context the role played by civil society, including
by the media and non-governmental organisations and
their contribution to reinforcing the administrations'
control framework against fraud and any misuse of
public funds, should be properly recognised.
(77) The publication of the relevant information is also
consistent with the approach as set out in Regulation
(EU, Euratom) No 966/2012.
(78) Alternatively, the objective of reinforcing public control
in respect of individual beneficiaries could be served by
providing for an obligation on Member States to ensure
public access to the relevant information upon request,
without publication. This would however be less effective
and run the risk of creating unwanted divergencies in
implementation. Consequently, national authorities
should be enabled to rely on the public control in
respect of individual beneficiaries through the publication
of their names and other relevant data.
(79) If the objective of the public control of the use of the
money from the Funds is to be achieved, a certain level
of information about beneficiaries needs to be brought to
the attention of the public. That information should
include data on the identity of the beneficiary, the
amount awarded and the fund from which it comes
and the purpose and the nature of the measure
concerned. The publication of that information should
be made in such a way as to cause less interference
with the beneficiaries' right to respect for their private
life, in general, and to their right to protection of their
personal data, in particular, both rights which are
recognised in Articles 7 and 8 of the Charter of Funda
mental Rights of the European Union.
(80) In order to ensure that this Regulation complies with the
principle of proportionality, the legislator has explored all
the alternative means of attaining the objective of public
control of the use of the money from the Funds, as
analysed in a memorandum set out in the Annex to
Council document 6370/13, and has chosen the one
which would cause the least interference with the indi
vidual rights concerned.
(81) Publishing details about the measure entitling the farmer
to receive aid or support and about the nature and the
purpose of the aid or support provides the public with
concrete information on the subsidised activity and the
purpose for which the aid or support was granted. This
would also contribute to the preventive and deterrent
effect of the public control in the protection of the
financial interest.
(82) In order to strike a balance between the objective of the
public control of the use of the money from the Funds,
on the one hand, and the beneficiaries' right to respect
for their private life, in general, and to protection of their
personal data, in particular, on the other hand, the
importance of the aid should be taken into account.
Following extensive analysis and consultation with the
stakeholders it appears that, in order to reinforce the
effectiveness of such publication and to limit the inter
ference with the beneficiaries' rights, it is necessary to set
a threshold expressed in terms of the amount of aid
received, below which the name of the beneficiary
should not be published.
(83) That threshold should be de-minimis and should reflect
and be based on the level of the support schemes set up
within the framework of the CAP. As the structures of
the Member States' agricultural economies vary
considerably and may differ significantly from the
average Union farm structure, the application of
different minimum thresholds that reflect the particular
situation of the Member States should be allowed. Regu
lation (EU) No 1307/2013 sets out a simple and specific
scheme for small farms. Article 63 of that Regulation
lays down criteria for calculating the amount of aid.
For reasons of consistency, in the case of Member
States applying the scheme, the threshold to be taken
into account should be set at the same level as the
amounts fixed by the Member State as referred to in
the second subparagraph of Article 63(1) or the second
subparagraph of Article 63(2) of that Regulation. In the
case of Member States deciding not to apply that scheme,
the threshold to be taken into account should be set at
the same level as the maximum amount of aid possible
under the scheme, as provided for in Article 63 of Regu
lation (EU) No 1307/2013. Below that specific threshold
1307the publication should contain all the relevant
information, except for the name, in order to allow the
taxpayers to have an accurate image of the CAP.
EN
(84) Making that information accessible to the public, in
combination with the general information to the public
provided for in this Regulation, enhances transparency
regarding the use of Union funds in the CAP, thus
contributing to the visibility and better understanding
of that policy. It enables citizens to participate more
closely in the decision-making process and guarantees
that the administration enjoys greater legitimacy, and is
more effective and is more accountable to the citizen. It
also brings concrete examples of the provision of "public
goods" by farming to the attention of citizens, thereby
underpinning the legitimacy of state support for the agri
cultural sector.
(85) Therefore it must be considered that providing for the
general publication of the relevant information does not
go beyond what is necessary in a democratic society in
view of the need to protect the Union's financial interests
as well as, the overriding weight of the objective of the
public control of the use of the money from the Funds.
(86) In order to comply with the data protection require
ments, beneficiaries of the Funds should be informed
of the publication of their data before that publication
takes place. They should also be informed that that data
may be processed by auditing and investigating bodies of
the Union and Member States for the purpose of safe
guarding the Union's financial interests. Furthermore, the
beneficiaries should be informed about their rights under
Directive 95/46/EC and the procedures applicable for
exercising these rights.
(87) Consequently, after having conducted an in-depth
analysis and assessment of the most appropriate way to
observe the right to protection of personal data of the
beneficiaries, based, moreover, on the information
provided by the Commission during the negotiations of
this Regulation, new rules on the publication of
information on all beneficiaries of the Funds should be
laid down in this Regulation.
(88) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implemen
tation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be
conferred on the Commission.
(89) In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implemen
tation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be
conferred on the Commission relating to: the procedures
for the issuing, withdrawing and reviewing accreditation
of paying agencies and coordinating bodies as well as for
the supervision of the accreditation of paying agencies;
the rules on the work and checks underlying the
management declaration of the paying agencies, the func
tioning of the coordinating body and the notification of
information to the Commission by that coordinating
body; the rules concerning the tasks of the certification
bodies, including the checks, and on the certificates and
the reports, together with the documents accompanying
them, to be drawn up by those bodies. Those imple
menting powers should be exercised in accordance with
Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European
Parliament and of the Council (
1
).
(90) The implementing powers of the Commission should
also cover: the audit principles on which the opinions
of the certification bodies are based, including an
assessment of the risks, internal controls and the level
of audit evidence required, the audit methods to be used
by the certification bodies, having regard to international
standards on auditing to deliver their opinions, including,
where appropriate, the use of a single integrated sample
for each population and, where appropriate, the possi
bility of accompanying paying agencies when they carry
out on-the-spot checks.
(91) They should also cover: rules for the uniform implemen
tation of the farm advisory system, the determination of
the EAGF monthly payments to the Member States; the
setting of the amounts for the financing of public inter
vention measures; rules relating to the financing of the
acquisition by the Commission of the satellite images
required for the checks and the measures taken by the
Commission through remote-sensing applications used
for the monitoring of agricultural resources; the
procedure for the carrying out of the acquisition by the
Commission of those satellite images and the monitoring
of agricultural resources, the framework governing the
acquisition, enhancing and utilisation of satellite images
and meteorological data, and the applicable deadlines.
(92) They should also cover: in the context of the financial
discipline procedure, the adjustment rate for the direct
payments as well as its adaptation as well as the terms
and conditions applicable to appropriations carried over
in accordance with Article 169(3) of Regulation (EU,
Euratom) No 966/2012 in order to finance the direct
payments; in the context of the budget discipline
procedure, the provisional setting of the amount of the
payments and the provisional distribution of the available
budget among the Member States.
(93) Furthermore, the implementing powers of the
Commission should cover: the setting of the period
within which the accredited paying agencies must
establish and forward, to the Commission, intermediate
declarations of expenditure relating to rural development
programmes; the reduction or suspension of the monthly
or interim payments to Member States; details on the
keeping of separate accounts by the paying agencies;
specific conditions applying to the information to be
booked in the accounts kept by the paying agencies;
rules on the financing and accounting of intervention
EN
(
1
the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general
principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of
the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55,
28.2.2011, p. 13).
measures in the form of public storage, and other expen
diture financed by the Funds, the terms and conditions
governing the implementation of the automatic decom
mitment procedure, the procedure and other practical
arrangements for the proper functioning of the
suspension of payments by the Commission to Member
States in the case of late submission of information by
Member States.
(94) Moreover, the implementing powers of the Commission
should cover: the procedures relating to the specific
obligations which the Member States have to comply
with in relation to checks; the procedures relating to
the cooperation obligations to be complied with by the
Member States as regards the on-the-spot checks carried
out by the Commission and access to information; the
procedures and other practical arrangements relating to
the obligation to report irregularities and fraud, the
conditions under which the supporting documents
relating to payments made and documents relating to
the performance of the administrative and physical
checks required by the Union law must be kept; the
clearance of accounts and the conformity clearance, the
exclusion from Union financing of sums charged to the
Union's budget, the procedures for the recovery of undue
payments and interest and the forms of notification and
communication to be made by the Member States to the
Commission in relation to irregularities.
also cover: rules aiming at reaching a uniform application
of Member States' obligations regarding the protection of
the financial interests of the Union, the necessary rules
aiming at reaching a uniform application of checks in the
Union, the application and calculation of the partial or
total withdrawal of payments or payment entitlements;
the recovery of undue payments and penalties as well as
in respect of unduly allocated payment entitlements and
the application of interest. They should also cover: the
application and the calculation of the administrative
penalties, the detailed rules for identifying a non-
compliance as minor, the rules identifying the cases in
which, due to the nature of the penalties, Member States
may retain the penalties recovered; and the suspension of
monthly payments in specific cases covered by Regu
lation (EU) No 1308/2013.
cover: the form of the securities to be lodged and the
procedure for lodging the securities, for accepting them,
and for replacing the original securities; the procedures
for the release of securities and the notification to be
made by Member States or by the Commission in the
context of securities; They should also cover: rules which
are both necessary and justifiable in an emergency in
order to resolve specific problems in relation to
payment periods and the payment of advances; rules
on the aid applications and payments claims, the appli
cations for payment entitlements, including the final date
for submission of applications, the requirements as to the
minimum amount of information to be included in the
applications, provisions for amendments to or the with
drawal of aid applications, exemption from the
requirement to submit aid applications and provisions
which allow Member States to apply simplified
procedures or to correct obvious errors.
(97) Likewise, the implementing powers of the Commission
should cover: rules on the carrying out of checks in order
to verify compliance with obligations, and the
correctness and completeness of the information
provided in the aid application or payment claim,
including rules on measurement tolerances for on-the-
spot checks, technical specifications needed for the
purpose of the uniform implementation of the integrated
administration and control system; rules on situations of
transfer of holdings accompanied by the transfer of any
obligation concerning eligibility in respect of the aid in
question which still needs to be fulfilled; and rules on the
payment of advances. They should also cover: rules
aiming at ensuring a uniform application of the rules
on the scrutiny of commercial documents; the
procedures relating to Member States' own databanks
and to the analytical databank of isotopic data that will
help detect fraud; the procedures relating to cooperation
and assistance between control authorities and bodies,
rules for performing the checks for compliance with
marketing standards, rules on the authorities responsible
for performing the checks, as well as on the content, the
frequency and the marketing stage to which those checks
are to apply.
also cover: in the context of the checks related to desig
nation of origin and geographical indications and
protected traditional terms, the communications to be
made by the Member States to the Commission; the
rules on the authority responsible for the verification of
compliance with the product specification, including
where the geographical area is a third country, the
actions to be implemented by the Member States to
prevent the unfaithful use of protected designations of
origin, protected geographical indications and protected
traditional terms, the checks and verifications to be
carried out by Member States, including testing.
They should also cover: rules on the carrying out of
checks in order to verify compliance with the cross-
compliance obligations; detailed procedural and
technical rules concerning the calculation and application
of administrative penalties for non-compliance with
cross-compliance requirements; rules pertaining to
communication of information by Member States to
the Commission as referred to in Article 104; and
measures to safeguard the application of Union law if
exceptional monetary practices related to national
currency are likely to jeopardise it;.
EN
(99) Furthermore, the implementing powers of the
Commission should cover: the set of indicators specific
to the monitoring and evaluation of the CAP; rules on
the information to be sent by the Member States to the
Commission for the purposes of the monitoring and
evaluation of the CAP; rules on the form and the
calendar of the publication of the beneficiaries of the
Funds, the uniform application of the obligation to
inform the beneficiaries that their data will be made
public, and the cooperation between the Commission
and Member States in the context of the publication of
the beneficiaries of the Funds.
(100) The advisory procedure should be used for the adoption
of certain implementing acts. With regard to the imple
menting acts involving the calculation of amounts by the
Commission the advisory procedure enables the
Commission to fully assume its responsibility of
managing the budget and aims to increase efficiency,
predictability and rapidity, when complying with the
time limits and the budgetary procedures. With regard
to the implementing acts related to payments made to
the Member States and the operation of the clearance of
accounts procedure, the advisory procedure enables the
Commission to fully assume its responsibility of
managing the budget and verifying the annual accounts
of the national paying agencies with a view to accepting
such accounts or, in the case of expenditure not effected
in compliance with Union rules, to excluding such
expenditure from Union financing. In other cases, the
examination procedure should be used for the adoption
of implementing acts.
(101) The Commission should be empowered to adopt imple
menting acts without the application of Regulation (EU)
No 182/2011 concerning the setting of the net balance
available for EAGF expenditure and making supple
mentary payments or deductions in the context of the
procedure for monthly payments.
(102) Since the transition from the system under the Regu
lations repealed by this Regulation to the system in
this Regulation could give rise to practical and specific
difficulties, provision should be made for the
Commission to adopt the necessary and duly justified
measures.
(103) Due to the urgency of preparing the smooth implemen
tation of the measures envisaged, this Regulation should
enter into force on the day of its publication in the
Official Journal of the European Union.
(104) As the programming period for the rural development
programmes financed on the basis of this Regulation
runs from 1 January 2014, this Regulation should be
applicable as from that date. However, since the agri
cultural financial year covers expenditure paid and
revenue received and entered in the accounts of the
Funds budget by the paying agencies in respect of
financial year "N" beginning on 16 October of year "N-
1" and ending on 15 October of year "N", the provisions
relating to the accreditation and withdrawal of accredi
tation of paying agencies and coordinating bodies and
the Commission's relevant powers, to the financial
management of the Funds such as the budget ceiling,
the reserve for crises in the agricultural sector, the
financial discipline, and to the assignment of revenue
should apply as from an earlier date corresponding to
the beginning of the financial year 2014 (i.e. 16 October
2013). For the same reason, the provisions relating to the
procedure for monthly payments made by the
Commission to Member States and the compliance by
the paying agencies with the payment deadlines should
apply to the expenditure effected as of the beginning of
the financial year 2014 (i.e. 16 October 2013).
(105) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted
and adopted an opinion (
1
).
(106) Since the objectives of this Regulation cannot be suffi
ciently achieved by the Member States given the links
between it and the other instruments of the CAP and
the limits on the financial resources of the Member States
in an enlarged Union, but can rather, by reason of the
multiannual guarantee of Union finance and by concen
trating on its priorities, be better achieved at Union level,
the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the
principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the
Treaty on European Union (TEU). In accordance with
the principle of proportionality, as set out in that
Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is
necessary in order to achieve those objectives,
HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
TITLE I
SCOPE AND DEFINITIONS
Article 1
Scope
This Regulation lays down the rules on:
(a) the financing of expenditure under the Common Agri
cultural Policy (CAP), including expenditure on rural devel
opment;
(b) the farm advisory system;
(c) the management and control systems to be put in place by
the Member States;
(d) the cross-compliance system;
(e) clearance of accounts.
EN
(
1
) OJ C 35, 9.2.2012, p. 1.
Article 2
Terms used in this Regulation
1. For the purpose of this Regulation:
(a) "farmer", means a farmer within the meaning of Article 4 of
Regulation (EU) 1307/2013;
(b) "agricultural activity" means an agricultural activity within
the meaning of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 1307/2013;
(c) "agricultural area" means an agricultural area within the
meaning of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 1307/2013;
(d) "holding" means holding within the meaning of Article 4 of
Regulation (EU) 1307/2013, save as provided for in
Article 91(3);
(e) "direct payments" means direct payments within the
meaning of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) 1307/2013;
(f) "sectoral agricultural legislation" means any applicable acts
adopted within the framework of the CAP on the basis of
Article 43 TFEU as well as, where applicable, any delegated
or implementing acts adopted on the basis of such acts, and
Part Two of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 insofar as it
applies to the EAFRD;
(g) "irregularity" means an irregularity within the meaning of
Article 1(2) of Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95.
2. For the purposes of the financing, management and moni
toring of the CAP, "force majeure" and "exceptional circum
stances" may, in particular, be recognised in the following cases:
(a) the death of the beneficiary;
(b) long-term professional incapacity of beneficiary;
(c) a severe natural disaster gravely affecting the holding;
(d) the accidental destruction of livestock buildings on the
holding;
(e) an epizootic or a plant disease affecting part or all of the
beneficiary's livestock or crops respectively;
(f) expropriation of all or a large part of the holding if that
expropriation could not have been anticipated on the day of
lodging the application.
TITLE II
GENERAL PROVISIONS ON AGRICULTURAL FUNDS
CHAPTER I
Agricultural Funds
Article 3
Funds financing agricultural expenditure
1. In order to achieve the objectives of the CAP as set out in
the TFEU, the financing of the various measures falling under
that policy, including rural development shall be made by:
(a) the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund (EAGF);
(b) the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
(EAFRD).
2. The EAGF and the EAFRD (the "Funds") shall come under
the general budget of the European Union (the Union's budget).
Article 4
EAGF expenditure
1. The EAGF shall be implemented in shared management
between the Member States and the Union. It shall finance the
following expenditure, which shall be effected in accordance
with Union law:
(a) measures regulating or supporting agricultural markets;
(b) direct payments to farmers under the CAP;
(c) the Union's financial contribution to information and
promotion measures for agricultural products on the
internal market of the Union and in third countries,
undertaken by Member States on the basis of programmes
other than those referred to in Article 5 and which are
selected by the Commission;
(d) the Union's financial contribution to the Union School Fruit
and Vegetables Scheme as referred to in Article 23 of Regu
lation (EU) No 1308/2013 and to the measures related to
animal diseases and loss of consumer confidence as referred
to in Article 155 of that Regulation.
2. The EAGF shall finance the following expenditure in a
direct manner and in accordance with Union law:
(a) promotion of agricultural products, undertaken either
directly by the Commission or through international organi
sations;
(b) measures, taken in accordance with Union law, to ensure
the conservation, characterisation, collection and utilisation
of genetic resources in agriculture;
EN
(c) the establishment and maintenance of agricultural
accounting information systems;
(d) agricultural survey systems, including surveys on the
structure of agricultural holdings.
Article 5
EAFRD expenditure
The EAFRD shall be implemented in shared management
between the Member States and the Union. It shall finance
the Union's financial contribution to rural development
programmes implemented in accordance with the Union law
on support for rural development.
Article 6
Other expenditure, including technical assistance
The Funds may each, finance, in a direct manner, on the
initiative of the Commission and/or on its behalf, the
preparatory, monitoring, administrative and technical support
activities, as well as evaluation, audit and inspection measures
required to implement the CAP. Those measures shall include,
in particular:
(a) measures required for the analysis, management, moni
toring, information exchange and implementation of the
CAP, as well as measures relating to the implementation
of control systems and technical and administrative
assistance;
(b) the acquisition by the Commission of the satellite images
required for the checks in accordance with Article 21;
(c) the measures taken by the Commission through remote-
sensing applications used for the monitoring of agricultural
resources in accordance with Article 22;
(d) measures required to maintain and develop methods and
technical means for information, interconnection, moni
toring and control of the financial management of the
funds used to finance the CAP;
(e) provision of information on the CAP in accordance with
Article 45;
(f) studies on the CAP and evaluations of measures financed by
the Funds, including improvement of evaluation methods
and exchange of information on practices under the CAP;
(g) where relevant, executive agencies that are set up in
accordance with Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 (
1
),
acting in connection with the CAP;
(h) measures relating to dissemination of information, raising
awareness, promoting cooperation and exchanging
experience at Union level, taken in the context of rural
development, including the networking of the parties
concerned;
(i) measures required for the development, registration and
protection of logos within the framework of the Union
quality policies and for the protection of intellectual
property rights linked to it, as well as the necessary
information technology (IT) developments.
CHAPTER II
Paying agencies and other bodies
Article 7
Accreditation and withdrawal of accreditation of paying
agencies and coordinating bodies
1. Paying agencies shall be departments or bodies of the
Member States responsible for the management and control
of expenditure referred to in Article 4(1) and Article 5.
With the exception of payment, the carrying out of those tasks
may be delegated
2. Member States shall accredit as paying agencies
departments or bodies which have an administrative organi
sation and a system of internal control which provide sufficient
guarantees that payments are legal and regular, and properly
accounted for. To this end, paying agencies shall comply with
minimum conditions for the accreditation with regard to
internal environment, control activities, information and
communication and monitoring laid down by the Commission
pursuant to point (a) of Article 8(1).
Each Member State shall, taking into account its constitutional
provisions, restrict the number of its accredited paying agencies
to no more than one at national level or, where applicable, to
one per region. However, where paying agencies are established
at regional level, Member States shall, in addition, either accredit
a paying agency at national level for aid schemes which, by
their nature, have to be managed at national level or shall
confer the management of these schemes on their regional
paying agencies.
By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, Member
States may maintain the number of paying agencies which have
been accredited before 20 December 2013.
Before the end of 2016, the Commission shall present a report
to the European Parliament and to the Council on the operation
of the system of paying agencies in the Union accompanied,
where appropriate, by legislative proposals.
3. By 15 February of the year following the financial year
concerned, the person in charge of the accredited paying agency
shall draw up:
(a) the annual accounts for the expenditure effected in carrying
out the tasks entrusted to their accredited paying agencies,
accompanied by the requisite information for their clearance
in accordance with Article 51;
EN
(
1
) Council Regulation (EC) No 58/2003 of 19 December 2002 laying
down the statute for executive agencies to be entrusted with certain
tasks in the management of Community programmes (OJ L 11,
16.1.2003, p. 1).
(b) a management declaration as to the completeness, accuracy
and veracity of the accounts and the proper functioning of
the internal control systems, based on objective criteria, as
well as to the legality and regularity of the underlying trans
actions;
(c) an annual summary of the final audit reports and of
controls carried out, including an analysis of the nature
and extent of the errors and of weaknesses in systems
identified, as well as corrective action to be taken or
planned.
The deadline of 15 February may be exceptionally extended by
the Commission to 1 March at the latest, upon communication
by the Member State concerned.
4. Where more than one paying agency is accredited, the
Member State shall designate a public body ("the coordinating
body"), to which it shall assign the following tasks:
(a) to collect the information to be made available to the
Commission and to send that information to the
Commission;
(b) to take or coordinate, as the case may be, actions with a
view to resolving any deficiencies of a common nature and
keep the Commission informed of any follow-up;
(c) to promote and, where possible, ensure harmonised appli
cation of the Union rules.
As regards the processing of the financial information referred
to in point (a) of the first subparagraph, the coordinating body
shall be subject to specific accreditation by the Member States.
5. Where an accredited paying agency does not meet or no
longer meets one or more of the accreditation criteria referred
to in paragraph 2, the Member State, acting on its own initiative
or at the request of the Commission, shall withdraw that
accreditation unless the paying agency makes the necessary
changes within a period to be determined depending on the
severity of the problem.
6. The paying agencies shall manage and ensure the control
of the operations linked to public intervention for which they
are responsible and they shall retain overall responsibility in
that field.
Article 8
Commission powers
1. To ensure the sound operation of the system provided for
in Article 7, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt
delegated acts in accordance with Article 111 concerning:
(a) the minimum conditions for the accreditation of paying
agencies and of the coordinating bodies referred to in
Article 7(2) and in Article 7(4), respectively;
(b) the obligations of the paying agencies as regards public
intervention, as well as the rules on the content of their
management and control responsibilities.
2. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying
down rules on:
(a) the procedures for issuing, withdrawing and reviewing
accreditation of paying agencies and coordinating bodies,
as well as the procedures for the supervision of the accredi
tation of paying agencies;
(b) the work and checks underlying the management
declaration of the paying agencies;
(c) the functioning of the coordinating body and the notifi
cation of information to the Commission as referred to in
Article 7(4).
Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with
the examination procedure referred to in Article 116(3).
Article 9
Certification bodies
1. The certification body shall be a public or private audit
body designated by the Member State. Where it is a private
audit body, and the applicable Union or national law so
requires, it shall be selected by the Member State by means of
a public tendering procedure. It shall provide an opinion, drawn
up in accordance with internationally accepted audit standards,
on the completeness, accuracy and veracity of the annual
accounts of the paying agency, on the proper functioning of
its internal control system and on the legality and regularity of
the expenditure for which reimbursement has been requested
from the Commission. That opinion shall also state whether the
examination puts in doubt the assertions made in the
management declaration.
The certification body shall have the necessary technical
expertise. It shall be operationally independent from the
paying agency and the coordinating body concerned as well
as from the authority which has accredited that agency.
down rules on the tasks of the certification bodies, including
the checks, and on the certificates and the reports, together with
the documents accompanying them, to be drawn up by those
bodies. In view of the need for maximum efficiency, for trans
action testing and for professional audit judgment, in the
context of an integrated approach, the implementing acts
shall also lay down:
(a) the audit principles on which the opinions of the certifi
cation bodies are based, including an assessment of the
risks, internal controls and the level of audit evidence
required;
EN
(b) the audit methods to be used, by the certification bodies,
having regard to international standards on auditing, to
deliver their opinions, including, where appropriate, the
use of a single integrated sample for each population and,
where appropriate, the possibility to accompany paying
agencies' on-the-spot checks
Article 10
Admissibility of payments made by the paying agencies
The expenditure referred to in Article 4(1) and in Article 5 may
be covered by Union financing only if it has been effected by
accredited paying agencies.
Article 11
Payment in full to beneficiaries
Except where otherwise explicitly provided for in Union law,
payments relating to the financing provided for in this Regu
lation shall be disbursed in full to the beneficiaries.
TITLE III
FARM ADVISORY SYSTEM
Article 12
Principle and scope
1. Member States shall establish a system for advising bene
ficiaries on land management and farm management ('farm
advisory system'). That farm advisory system shall be operated
by designated public bodies and/or selected private bodies.
2. The farm advisory system shall cover at least the
following:
(a) obligations at farm level resulting from the statutory
management requirements and the standards for good agri
cultural and environmental condition of land as laid down
in Chapter I of Title VI;
(b) the agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the
environment as laid down in Chapter 3 of Title III of Regu
lation (EU) No 1307/2013 and the maintenance of the agri
cultural area as referred to in point (c) of Article 4(1) of
Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013;
(c) measures at farm level provided for in rural development
programmes for farm modernisation, competitiveness
building, sectoral integration, innovation and market orien
tation, as well as for the promotion of entrepreneurship;
(d) requirements, at the level of beneficiaries as defined by
Member States for implementing Article 11(3) of Directive
2000/60/EC;
(e) requirements at the level of beneficiaries as defined by
Member States for implementing Article 55 of Regulation
(EC) No 1107/2009, in particular the requirement referred
to in Article 14 of Directive 2009/128/EC.
3. The farm advisory system may also cover, in particular:
(a) the promotion of conversions of farms and the diversifi
cation of their economic activity;
(b) risk management and the introduction of appropriate
preventive actions to address natural disasters, catastrophic
events and animal and plant diseases;
(c) the minimum requirements established by national law, as
referred to in Article 28(3) and 29(2) of Regulation (EU)
No 1305/2013;
(d) the information related to climate change mitigation and
adaptation, biodiversity and protection of water, as set out
in Annex I to this Regulation.
Article 13
Specific requirements relating to the farm advisory system
1. Member States shall ensure that advisors working within
the farm advisory system are suitably qualified and regularly
trained.
2. Member States shall ensure the separation between advice
and checks. In that respect, and without prejudice to national
law concerning public access to documents, Member States shall
ensure that the selected and designated bodies as referred to in
Article 12(1) do not disclose any personal or individual
information or data they obtain in the course of their
advisory activity to persons other than the beneficiary who is
managing the holding concerned, with the exception of any
irregularity or infringement found in the course of their
activity which is covered by an obligation laid down in
Union or national law to inform a public authority, in particular
in the case of criminal offences.
3. The national authority concerned shall provide, primarily
by electronic means, the potential beneficiary with the appro
priate list of selected and designated bodies as referred in
Article 12(1).
Article 14
Access to the farm advisory system
Beneficiaries and farmers not receiving support under the CAP
may use the farm advisory system on a voluntary basis.
EN
Without prejudice to the fourth subparagraph of Article 99(2),
Member States may, however, determine in accordance with
objective criteria, the categories of beneficiaries that have
priority access to the farm advisory system, including
networks operating with limited resources within the meaning
of Articles 53, 55 and 56 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013.
In such cases, Member States shall ensure that priority is given
to those farmers with the most limited access to an advisory
service other than the farm advisory system.
The farm advisory system shall ensure that beneficiaries have
access to advice reflecting the specific situation of their holding.
Article 15
Commission powers
The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down
rules on the uniform implementation of the farm advisory
system in order to render that system fully operational.
TITLE IV
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT OF THE FUNDS
CHAPTER I
EAGF
S e c t i o n 1
F i n a n c i n g o f e x p e n d i t u r e
Article 16
Budget ceiling
1. The annual ceiling for EAGF expenditure shall be
constituted by the maximum amounts set for it under Regu
2. In the event that Union law provides for sums to be
deducted from or added to the amounts referred to in
paragraph 1, the Commission shall adopt implementing acts
without applying the procedure referred to in Article 116,
setting the net balance available for EAGF expenditure on the
basis of the data referred to in Union law.
Article 17
Monthly payments
1. The appropriations necessary to finance the expenditure
referred to in Article 4(1) shall be made available to Member
States by the Commission in the form of monthly payments, on
the basis of the expenditure effected by the accredited paying
agencies during a reference period.
2. Until transfer of the monthly payments by the
Commission, the resources required to undertake expenditure
shall be mobilised by the Member States according to the
needs of their accredited paying agencies.
Article 18
Procedure for monthly payments
1. Without prejudice to the application of Articles 51 and
52, monthly payments shall be made by the Commission for
expenditure effected by accredited paying agencies during the
reference month.
2. Monthly payments shall be made to each Member State at
the latest on the third working day of the second month
following that in which the expenditure is effected. Expenditure
effected by Member States between 1 and 15 October shall
count as having been made in the month of October. Expen
diture effected between 16 and 31 October shall count as
having been made in the month of November.
3. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts deter
mining the monthly payments which it makes on the basis of
a declaration of expenditure from the Member States and the
information supplied in accordance with Article 102(1), taking
account of reductions or suspensions applied under Article 41
or any other corrections. Those implementing acts shall be
adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to
in Article 116(2).
4. The Commission may adopt, implementing acts without
applying the procedure referred to in Article 116, determining
supplementary payments or deductions. In such cases, the
committee referred to in Article 116(1) shall be informed at
its next meeting.
Article 19
Administrative and personnel costs
Expenditure relating to administrative and personnel costs
effected by Member States and by beneficiaries of aid from
the EAGF shall not be borne by the Fund.
Article 20
Public intervention expenditure
1. Where, within the framework of the common organi
sation of the markets, a sum per unit is not determined in
respect of a public intervention, the EAGF shall finance the
measure concerned on the basis of standard amounts uniform
throughout the Union, in particular as regards funds originating
in the Member States used for buying-in products, for material
operations arising from storage and, where appropriate, for the
processing of intervention products.
2. In order to ensure the funding by the EAGF of the public
intervention expenditure the Commission shall be empowered
to adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 115
concerning:
(a) the type of measures eligible for Union financing and the
reimbursement conditions;
EN
(b) the eligibility conditions and calculation methods based on
the information actually observed by the paying agencies or
based on flat-rates determined by the Commission, or based
on flat-rate or non-flat-rate amounts provided for by the
sectoral agricultural legislation.
3. In order to ensure the proper management of the appro
priations entered in the Union's budget for the EAGF, the
Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in
accordance with Article 115, laying down rules on the
valuation of operations in connection with public intervention,
the measures to be taken in the case of loss or deterioration of
products under the public intervention, and on the deter
mination of the amounts to be financed.
4. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts, fixing the
amounts referred to in paragraph 1. Those implementing acts
shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure
referred to in Article 116(2).
Article 21
Acquisition of satellite images
The list of the satellite images required for checks shall be
agreed by the Commission and the Member States in
accordance with the specification prepared by each Member
State.
The Commission shall supply those satellite images free of
charge to the control bodies or to suppliers of services auth
orised by those bodies to represent them.
The Commission shall remain the owner of the satellite images
and shall recover them on completion of the work. It may also
provide that work be carried out on enhancing techniques and
working methods in connection with the inspection of agri
cultural areas by remote sensing.
Article 22
Monitoring of agricultural resources
The measures financed pursuant to point (c) of Article 6 shall
aim to give the Commission the means to:
(a) manage Union agricultural markets in a global context;
(b) ensure agri-economic and agri-environmental monitoring of
agricultural land, including agro-forestry, and monitoring of
the condition of crops so as to enable estimates to be made,
in particular as regards yields and agricultural production;
(c) share the access to such estimates in an international
context, such as those initiatives coordinated by United
Nations organisations or other international agencies;
(d) contribute to transparency of world markets; and
(e) ensure technological follow-up of the agri-meteorological
system.
The measures financed pursuant to point (c) of Article 6
concern the collection or purchase of data needed to
implement and monitor the CAP, including satellite data and
meteorological data, the creation of a spatial data infrastructure
and a website, the carrying out of specific studies on climatic
conditions, remote sensing used to assist in the monitoring of
soil health and the updating of agri-meteorological and econ
ometric models. Where necessary, those measures shall be
carried out in collaboration with national laboratories and
bodies.
Article 23
Implementing powers
The Commission may adopt implementing acts, laying down:
(a) rules relating to the financing pursuant to points (b) and (c)
of Article 6,
(b) the procedure under which the measures referred to in
Articles 21 and 22 shall be carried out in order to meet
the objectives assigned,
(c) the framework governing the acquisition, enhancing and
utilisation of satellite images and meteorological data, and
the applicable deadlines.
S e c t i o n 2
B u d g e t d i s c i p l i n e
Article 24
Compliance with the ceiling
1. Throughout the budget procedure and the implementation
of the budget, appropriations relating to EAGF expenditure shall
not exceed the amount referred to in Article 16.
All legislative instruments proposed by the Commission and
adopted by the European Parliament and the Council, the
Council or the Commission and that have an influence on
the EAGF budget shall comply with the amount referred to in
Article 16.
2. Where Union law provides for a financial ceiling in euro
for agricultural expenditure in respect of a Member State, such
expenditure shall be reimbursed subject to that limit set in euro,
and, where Article 41 applies, with any necessary adjustments.
3. National ceilings for direct payments referred to in
Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, corrected by the
adjustments laid down in Article 26 of this Regulation, shall be
deemed to be financial ceilings in euro.
EN
Article 25
Reserve for crises in the agricultural sector
A reserve intended to provide additional support for the agri
cultural sector in the case of major crises affecting the agri
cultural production or distribution ("the reserve for crises in
the agricultural sector") shall be established by applying, at
the beginning of each year, a reduction to direct payments
with the financial discipline mechanism referred to in
Article 26.
The total amount of the reserve shall be EUR 2 800 million
with equal annual instalments of EUR 400 million (at 2011
prices) for the period 2014-2020 and shall be included under
Heading 2 of the Multiannual Financial Framework as set out in
the Annex to Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013.
Article 26
Financial discipline
1. In order to ensure that the annual ceilings set out in
Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 1311/2013 for the financing of
the market related expenditure and direct payments are
respected, an adjustment rate for direct payments ("the
adjustment rate") shall be determined when the forecasts for
the financing of the measures financed under that sub-ceiling
for a given financial year indicate that the applicable annual
ceilings will be exceeded.
2. The Commission shall present a proposal to the European
Parliament and to the Council concerning the adjustment rate
no later than 31 March of the calendar year in respect of which
that adjustment rate applies.
3. If in any year the adjustment rate has not been set by the
European Parliament and the Council by 30 June, the
Commission shall adopt implementing acts fixing the
adjustment rate and shall inform the European Parliament and
the Council immediately thereof. Such implementing acts shall
be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred
to in Article 116(2).
4. Until 1 December, the Commission may, on the basis of
new information in its possession, adopt implementing acts
adapting the adjustment rate set in accordance with paragraphs
2 or 3. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance
with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 116(2).
5. By way of derogation from the fourth subparagraph of
Article 169(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012,
Member States shall reimburse the appropriations carried over
in accordance with Article 169(3) of Regulation (EU, Euratom)
No 966/2012 to the final recipients who are subject, in the
financial year to which the appropriations are carried over, to
the adjustment rate.
The reimbursement referred to in the first subparagraph shall
only apply to final beneficiaries in those Member States where
financial discipline applied in the preceding financial year.
6. The Commission may adopt implementing acts, laying
down the terms and conditions applicable to appropriations
carried over in accordance with Article 169(3) of Regulation
(EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 in order to finance the expenditure
referred to in Article 4(1)(b) of this Regulation. Those imple
menting acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory
procedure referred to in Article 116(2).
7. When applying this Article, the amount of the reserve for
crises in the agricultural sector referred to in Article 25 shall be
included in the determination of the adjustment rate. Any
amount not made available for crisis measures by the end of
the financial year shall be disbursed in accordance with
paragraph 5 of this Article.
Article 27
Budget discipline procedure
1. The Commission shall present to the European Parliament
and to the Council, at the same time as the draft budget
for financial year N, its forecasts for financial years N - 1, N
and N + 1.
2. If, on drawing up the draft budget for financial year N,
there appears to be a risk that the amount referred to in
Article 16 for financial year N will be exceeded, the
Commission shall propose to the European Parliament and to
the Council or to the Council, the measures necessary to ensure
compliance with that amount.
3. At any time, if the Commission considers that there is a
risk that the amount referred to in Article 16 will be exceeded
and that it cannot take adequate measures to remedy the
situation under its powers, it shall propose other measures to
ensure compliance with that amount. Those measures are
adopted by the Council where the legal basis of the relevant
measure is Article 43(3) TFEU or by the European Parliament
and the Council where the legal basis of the relevant measure is
Article 43(2) TFEU.
4. If, at the end of financial year N, reimbursement requests
from the Member States exceed or are likely to exceed the
amount referred to in Article 16, the Commission shall:
(a) consider the requests presented by Member States pro rata
and within the limit of the available budget, and shall, adopt
implementing acts, setting provisionally the amount of the
payments for the month concerned;
(b) determine, for all Member States, at the latest by 28
February of financial year N + 1, their situation with
regard to Union financing for the financial year N;
(c) adopt implementing acts setting the total amount of Union
financing broken down by Member State, on the basis of a
single rate of Union financing, within the limit of the
budget which was available for the monthly payments;
(d) effect, at the latest when the monthly payments are made
for March of year N+1, any compensation to be carried out
with respect to Member States.
EN
The implementing acts provided for in points (a) and (c) of the
first subparagraph shall be adopted in accordance with the
advisory procedure referred to in Article 116(2).
Article 28
Early-warning and monitoring system
In order to ensure that the budget ceiling referred to in
Article 16 is not exceeded, the Commission shall implement a
monthly early-warning and monitoring system in respect of
EAGF expenditure.
To that end, at the beginning of each financial year, the
Commission shall determine monthly expenditure profiles
based, where appropriate, on average monthly expenditure
during the previous three years.
The Commission shall periodically present to the European
Parliament and to the Council a report examining the devel
opment of expenditure effected in relation to the profiles and
containing an assessment of the forecasted implementation for
the current financial year.
Article 29
Reference exchange rates
1. When adopting the draft budget, or a letter of amendment
to the draft budget which concerns agricultural expenditure, the
Commission shall use for EAGF budget estimates the average
euro/US dollar exchange rate recorded on the market during the
latest quarter ending at least 20 days before adoption of the
budget document by the Commission.
2. When adopting a draft amending and supplementary
budget or a letter of amendment thereto, the Commission
shall, in so far as those documents concern appropriations
relating to the measures referred to in point (a) of Article 4(1),
use:
(a) the average euro/US dollar exchange rate actually recorded
on the market from 1 August of the previous financial year
until the end of the latest quarter ending at least 20 days
before adoption of the budget document by the
Commission and at the latest on 31 July of the current
financial year, and
(b) the average exchange rate actually recorded during the latest
quarter ending at least 20 days before adoption of the
budget document by the Commission, as a forecast for
the remainder of the financial year.
CHAPTER II
EAFRD
S e c t i o n 1
G e n e r a l p r o v i s i o n s f o r e a f r d
Article 30
No double funding
Expenditure financed under the EAFRD shall not be the subject
of any other financing under the Union's budget.
Article 31
Provisions applying to all payments
1. In accordance with Article 77(1) of Regulation (EU)
No 1303/2013 payments by the Commission of the EAFRD
contribution as referred to in Article 5 of this Regulation
shall not exceed the budget commitments.
Those payments shall be assigned to the earliest open budget
commitment
2. Article 84 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 shall
apply.
S e c t i o n 2
F i n a n c i n g o f r u r a l d e v e l o p m e n t
p r o g r a m m e s
Article 32
Financial contribution from the EAFRD
The financial contribution from the EAFRD towards expenditure
under rural development programmes shall be determined for
each programme, within the ceilings established by Union law
concerning support for rural development by the EAFRD.
Article 33
Budget commitments
As regards the Union's budget commitments for rural devel
opment programmes, Article 76 of Regulation (EU)
No 1303/2013 shall apply.
S e c t i o n 3
F i n a n c i a l c o n t r i b u t i o n t o r u r a l d e v e l
o p m e n t p r o g r a m m e s
Article 34
Provisions applying to payments for rural development
programmes
1. The appropriations necessary to finance the expenditure
referred to in Article 5 shall be made available to Member States
in the form of prefinancing, interim payments and the payment
of a balance, as described in this Section.
2. The combined total of prefinancing and interim payments
shall not exceed 95 % of the EAFRD's contribution to each rural
development programme.
When the ceiling of 95 % is reached, the Member States shall
continue transmitting requests for payments to the
Commission.
Article 35
Prefinancing arrangements
1. Following its decision to approve the rural development
programme, the Commission shall pay an initial prefinancing
amount to the Member State for the whole programming
period. This initial pre-financing amount shall be paid in
instalments as follows:
EN
(a) in 2014: 1 % of the amount of support from the EAFRD for
the entire programming period to the programme and
1,5 % of the amount of support from the EAFRD for the
entire programming period to the programme, where a
Member State has been receiving financial assistance since
2010, either in accordance with Articles 122 and 143
TFEU, or from the European Financial Stability Facility
(EFSF), or is receiving financial assistance on 31 December
2013 in accordance with Articles 136 and 143 TFEU;
(b) in 2015: 1 % of the amount of support from the EAFRD for
the entire programming period to the programme and
1,5 % of the amount of support from the EAFRD for the
entire programming period to the programme where a
Member State has been receiving financial assistance since
2010, either in accordance with Articles 122 and 143
TFEU, or from the EFSF, or is receiving financial assistance
on 31 December 2014 in accordance with Articles 136 and
143 TFEU;
(c) in 2016: 1 % of the amount of support from the EAFRD for
the entire programming period to the programme.
If a rural development programme is adopted in 2015 or later,
the earlier instalments shall be paid in the year of such
adoption.
2. The total amount paid as prefinancing shall be reimbursed
to the Commission if no expenditure is effected and no
declaration of expenditure for the rural development
programme is sent within 24 months of the date on which
the Commission pays the first instalment of the prefinancing
amount.
3. Interest generated on the prefinancing shall be posted to
the rural development programme concerned and deducted
from the amount of public expenditure indicated on the final
declaration of expenditure.
4. The total prefinancing amount shall be cleared in
accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 51 of
this Regulation before the rural development programme is
closed.
Article 36
Interim payments
1. Interim payments shall be made for each rural devel
opment programme. They shall be calculated by applying the
co-financing rate for each measure to the public expenditure
effected pertaining to it as referred to in Article 59 of Regu
lation (EU) No 1305/2013.
2. Subject to the availability of resources, the Commission
shall, taking account of reductions or suspensions applied under
Article 41, make interim payments in order to reimburse the
expenditure effected by accredited paying agencies in imple
menting the programmes.
3. Each interim payment shall be made by the Commission,
subject to compliance with the following requirements:
(a) transmission to the Commission of a declaration of expen
diture signed by the accredited paying agency, in accordance
with Article 102(1)(c);
(b) no overrun of the total EAFRD contribution to each
measure for the entire period covered by the programme
concerned;
(c) transmission to the Commission of the last annual progress
report on the implementation of the rural development
programme.
4. If one of the requirements laid down in paragraph 3 is not
met, the Commission shall forthwith inform the accredited
paying agency or the coordinating body, where one has been
appointed. If one of the requirements laid down in point (a) or
in point (c) of paragraph 3 is not respected, the declaration of
expenditure shall be inadmissible.
5. Without prejudice to the application of Articles 51 and
52, the Commission shall make interim payments within 45
days of registering a declaration of expenditure which meets the
requirements set out in paragraph 3 of this Article.
6. Accredited paying agencies shall establish and forward to
the Commission, either directly or via the intermediary of the
coordinating body, where one has been appointed, intermediate
declarations of expenditure relating to rural development
programmes, within periods to be set by the Commission.
The Commission shall adopt implementing acts laying down
the periods for accredited paying agencies to forward those
intermediate declarations of expenditure. Those implementing
acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination
Declarations of expenditure shall cover expenditure that the
paying agencies have effected during each of the periods
concerned. However, in cases in which expenditure referred to
in Article 65(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 cannot be
declared to the Commission in the period concerned due to
pending approval by the Commission of an amendment to
the programme, it may be declared in subsequent periods.
Intermediate declarations of expenditure in respect of expen
diture effected from 16 October onwards shall be booked to
the following year's budget.
7. Article 83 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 shall apply.
EN
Article 37
Payment of the balance and closure of the programme
1. After receiving the last annual progress report on the
implementation of a rural development programme, the
Commission shall pay the balance, subject to the availability
of resources, on the basis of the financial plan in force, the
annual accounts for the last execution year for the relevant
rural development programme and of the corresponding
clearance decision. Those accounts shall be presented to the
Commission no later than six months after the final eligibility
date of expenditure as referred to in Article 65(2) of Regulation
(EU) No 1303/2013 and shall cover the expenditure effected by
the paying agency up to the last eligibility date of expenditure.
2. The balance shall be paid no later than six months after
the information and documents referred to in paragraph 1 of
this Article are considered to be receivable by the Commission
and the last annual account has been cleared. Without prejudice
to Article 38(5) the amounts still committed after the balance is
paid shall be decommitted by the Commission within a period
of six months.
3. If, by the time limit set out in paragraph 1, the
Commission has not been sent the last annual progress report
and the documents needed for clearance of the accounts of the
last execution year for the programme the balance shall be
automatically decommitted in accordance with Article 38.
Article 38
Automatic decommitment for rural development
programmes
1. The Commission shall automatically decommit any
portion of a budget commitment for a rural development
programme that has not been used for the purpose of prefi
nancing or for making interim payments or for which no
declaration of expenditure fulfilling the requirements laid
down in Article 36(3) has been presented to it in relation to
expenditure effected by 31 December of the third year following
that of the budget commitment.
2. The part of budget commitments that is still open on the
last eligibility date for expenditure as referred to in Article 65(2)
of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 for which no declaration of
expenditure has been made within six months of that date shall
be automatically decommitted.
3. In the event of legal proceedings or of an administrative
appeal having suspensory effect, the period for automatic
decommitment referred to in paragraph 1 or paragraph 2
shall, in respect of the amount relating to the operations
concerned, be interrupted for the duration of those proceedings
or that administrative appeal, provided that the Commission
receives a substantiated notification from the Member State by
31 December of year N + 3.
4. The following shall be disregarded in calculating the
automatic decommitment:
(a) that part of the budget commitments for which a
declaration of expenditure has been made but for which
reimbursement has been reduced or suspended by the
Commission at 31 December of year N + 3;
(b) that part of the budget commitments which a paying
agency has been unable to disburse for reasons of force
majeure seriously affecting the implementation of the rural
development programme. National authorities claiming
force majeure shall demonstrate the direct consequences
on the implementation of all or part of the programme.
By 31 January, the Member State shall send to the Commission
information on the exceptions referred to in the first
subparagraph concerning the amounts declared by the end of
the preceding year.
5. The Commission shall inform Member States in good time
if there is a risk of automatic decommitment. It shall inform
them of the amount involved as indicated by the information in
its possession. The Member States shall have two months from
receiving this information to agree to the amount in question or
present observations. The Commission shall carry out the
automatic decommitment not later than nine months after
the last time-limit resulting from the application of paragraphs
1 to 3.
6. In the event of automatic decommitment, the EAFRD
contribution to the rural development programme concerned
shall be reduced, for the year in question, by the amount auto
matically decommitted. The Member State shall produce a
revised financing plan splitting the reduction of the aid
between the measures for approval by the Commission. If it
does not do so, the Commission shall reduce the amounts
allocated to each measure pro rata.
CHAPTER III
Common Provisions
Article 39
Agricultural financial year
Without prejudice to special provisions on declarations of
expenditure and revenue relating to public intervention laid
down by the Commission pursuant to point (a) of Article 46(6),
the agricultural financial year shall cover expenditure paid and
revenue received and entered in the accounts of the Funds'
budget by the paying agencies in respect of financial year "N"
beginning on 16 October of year "N-1" and ending on 15
October of year "N".
Article 40
Compliance with payment deadlines
Where payment deadlines are laid down by Union law, any
payment made by the paying agencies to the beneficiaries
before the earliest possible date of payment and after the
latest possible date of payment shall make the payments
ineligible for Union financing, except in the cases, conditions
and limits to be determined taking into account the principle of
proportionality.
EN
In order to make expenditure effected before the earliest
possible date of payment or after the latest possible date of
payment eligible for Union financing, while limiting the
financial impact of doing so, the Commission shall be
empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with
Article 115, derogating from the rule contained in the first
paragraph.
Article 41
Reduction and suspension of monthly and interim
payments
1. Where the declarations of expenditure or the information
referred to in Article 102 enable the Commission to establish
that expenditure has been effected by bodies which are not
accredited paying agencies, that payment periods or financial
ceilings set by Union law have not been respected or that
expenditure has otherwise not been effected in accordance
with Union rules, the Commission may reduce or suspend the
monthly or interim payments to the Member State concerned in
the framework of the implementing acts concerning the
monthly payments referred to in Article 18(3) or in the
framework of the interim payments referred to in Article 36,
after giving the Member State an opportunity to submit its
comments.
Where the declarations of expenditure or the information
referred to in Article 102 do not enable the Commission to
establish that the expenditure has been effected in accordance
with Union rules, the Commission shall ask the Member State
concerned to supply further information and to submit
comments within a period which shall not be less than 30
days. If the Member State fails to respond to the Commission
request within the period set or if the response is considered
unsatisfactory or demonstrates that the expenditure has not
been effected in accordance with Union rules, the Commission
may reduce or suspend the monthly or interim payments to the
Member State concerned in the framework of the implementing
acts concerning the monthly payments referred to in
Article 18(3) or in the framework of the interim payments
referred to in Article 36.
2. The Commission may adopt implementing acts, reducing
or suspending the monthly or interim payments to a Member
State if one or more of the key components of the national
control system in question do not exist or are not effective due
to the gravity or persistence of the deficiencies found, or if there
are similar serious deficiencies in the system for the recovery of
irregular payments and if one of the following conditions is
met:
(a) the deficiencies referred to in the first subparagraph are of a
continuous nature and have been the reason for at least two
implementing acts pursuant to Article 52, excluding from
Union financing expenditure from the Member State
concerned; or
(b) the Commission concludes that the Member State
concerned is not in a position to implement in the
immediate future the necessary remedial measures in
accordance with an action plan with clear progress indi
cators, to be established in consultation with the
Commission.
The reduction or suspension shall be applied to the relevant
expenditure effected by the paying agency where the deficiencies
exist for a period to be determined in the implementing acts
referred to in this paragraph, which shall not exceed twelve
months. If the conditions for the reduction or suspension
continue to be met, the Commission may adopt implementing
acts prolonging that period for further periods not exceeding
twelve months in total. The reduction and suspension shall not
be continued if those conditions are no longer met.
The implementing acts provided for in this paragraph shall be
adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to
in Article 116(2).
Before adopting the implementing acts referred to in this para
graph, the Commission shall inform the Member State
concerned of its intention and shall ask it to react within a
period which shall not be less than 30 days.
The implementing acts determining the monthly payments
referred to in Article 18(3) or the interim payments referred
to in Article 36 shall take account of the implementing acts
adopted under this paragraph.
3. Reductions and suspensions under this Article shall be
applied in accordance with the principle of proportionality
and shall be without prejudice to the application of Articles
51 and 52.
4. Reductions and suspensions under this Article shall be
without prejudice to Articles 19, 22 and 23 of Regulation
(EU) No 1303/2013.
The suspensions referred to in Articles 19 and 22 of Regulation
(EU) No 1303/2013 shall be in accordance with the procedure
laid down in paragraph 2 of this Article.
Article 42
Suspension of payments in the case of late submission
Where sectoral agricultural legislation requires Member States to
submit, within a specific period of time, information on the
number of checks carried out under Article 59 and their
outcomes and where the Member States overrun that period,
the Commission may suspend the monthly payments referred
to in Article 18 or the interim payments referred to in Article 36
provided that the Commission has made available to the
Member States in good time prior to the start of the
reference period all the information, forms and explanations
they need to compile the relevant statistics. The amount to be
suspended shall not exceed 1,5 % of the expenditure for which
the relevant statistical information has not been sent in time. In
applying the suspension, the Commission shall act in
accordance with the principle of proportionality, taking
account of the extent of the delay. In particular, account shall
be taken of whether the late submission of information places
EN
the annual budget discharge mechanism at risk. Before
suspending the monthly payments the Commission shall
notify the Member State concerned in writing. The Commission
shall reimburse the suspended amounts when it receives the
statistical information from the Member States concerned,
provided that the date of receipt is not later than 31 January
of the following year.
Article 43
Assignment of revenue
1. The following shall be "assigned revenue" within the
meaning of Article 21 of Regulation (EU, Euratom)
No 966/2012
(a) sums which, under Articles 40 and Article 51 as regards
expenditure under EAGF, and under Articles 52 and 54,
must be paid to the Union's budget, including interest
thereon;
(b) sums which are collected or recovered under Section III of
Chapter III of Title I of Part II of Regulation (EC)
No 1234/2007;
(c) sums which have been collected as a consequence of
penalties in accordance with the specific rules laid down
in Union sectoral agricultural legislation, save if that legis
lation explicitly provides that those amounts may be
retained by the Member States;
(d) amounts corresponding to penalties applied in accordance
with the rules on cross-compliance laid down in Chapter II
of Title VI, as regards expenditure under EAGF;
(e) any security, deposit or guarantee furnished pursuant to
Union law adopted within the framework of the CAP,
excluding rural development, and subsequently forfeited.
However, forfeited securities lodged when issuing export
or import licences or under a tendering procedure for the
sole purpose of ensuring that tenderers submit genuine
tenders shall be retained by the Member States.
2. The sums referred to in paragraph 1 shall be paid to the
Union's budget and, in the event of reuse, shall be used
exclusively to finance EAGF or EAFRD expenditure.
3. This Regulation shall apply mutatis mutandis to assigned
revenue referred to in paragraph 1.
4. As regards the EAGF, Articles 170 and 171 of Regulation
(EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 shall apply mutatis mutandis to
the keeping of accounts on assigned revenue referred to in
this Regulation.
Article 44
Keeping of separate accounts
Each paying agency shall keep a set of separate accounts for the
appropriations entered in the Union's budget for the Funds.
Article 45
Information measures
1. The provision of information financed pursuant to point
(e) of Article 6 shall aim, in particular, to help explain,
implement and develop the CAP and to raise public
awareness of its content and objectives to reinstate consumer
confidence following crises through information campaigns, to
inform farmers and other parties active in rural areas and to
promote the European model of agriculture, as well as to help
citizens understand it.
It shall supply coherent, objective and comprehensive
information, both inside and outside the Union, in order to
give an accurate overall picture of the CAP.
2. The measures referred to in paragraph 1 may consist of:
(a) annual work programmes or other specific measures
presented by third parties;
(b) activities implemented on the initiative of the Commission.
Those measures which are required by law or those measures
already receiving financing under another Union action shall be
excluded.
In order to implement activities as referred to in point (b) the
Commission may be assisted by external experts.
The measures referred to in the first subparagraph shall also
contribute to the corporate communication of the Union's
political priorities in so far as those priorities are related to
the general objectives of this Regulation.
3. By 31 October of each year, the Commission shall publish
a call of proposal respecting the conditions set out in Regu
4. The Committee referred to in Article 116(1) shall be
notified of measures envisaged and taken pursuant to this
Article.
5. The Commission shall present a report on the implemen
tation of this Article to the European Parliament and the
Council every two years.
Article 46
Commission powers
1. In order to take account of revenue collected by paying
agencies for the Union's budget when making payments on the
basis of the expenditure declarations submitted by Member
States, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt
delegated acts in accordance with Article 115 concerning the
conditions under which certain types of expenditure and
revenue under the Funds are to be compensated.
EN
2. In order to enable the equitable distribution of the appro
priations available between the Member States, if the Union's
budget has not been adopted by the beginning of the financial
year or if the total amount of the commitments scheduled
exceeds the threshold laid down in Article 170(3) of Regulation
(EU, Euratom) No 966/2012, the Commission shall be
Article 115 of this Regulation concerning the method
applicable to the commitments and the payment of the
amounts.
3. In order to verify the consistency of the data notified by
the Member States in relation to the expenditure or other
information provided for in this Regulation, the Commission
shall be empowered, in the case of non-compliance with the
obligation to notify the Commission pursuant to Article 102, to
adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 115 on the
deferral of monthly payments to Member States referred to in
Article 42 with regard to expenditure under the EAGF and
laying down the conditions under which it will reduce or
suspend interim payments to Member States under the
EAFRD referred to in that Article.
4. When applying Article 42 in order to ensure that
principle of proportionality is respected, the Commission shall
be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with
Article 115 pertaining to rules on:
(a) the list of measures which fall under Article 42;
(b) the rate of suspension of payments referred to in that
Article.
5. The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying
down further rules on the obligation laid down in Article 44
as well as the specific conditions applying to the information to
be booked in the accounts kept by the paying agencies. Those
implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the
examination procedure referred to in Article 116(3).
down rules on:
(a) the financing and accounting of intervention measures in
the form of public storage, and other expenditure financed
by the Funds;
(b) the terms and conditions governing the implementation of
the automatic decommitment procedure;
(c) the procedure and other practical arrangements for the
proper functioning of the mechanism provided for in
Article 42.
CHAPTER IV
Clearance of accounts
S e c t i o n I
G e n e r a l p r o v i s i o n s
Article 47
On-the-spot checks by the Commission
1. Without prejudice to the checks carried out by Member
States under national law, regulations and administrative
provisions or Article 287 TFEU or to any check organised
under Article 322 TFEU or based on Council Regulation
(Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 (
1
), the Commission may organise
on-the-spot checks in Member States with a view to verifying in
particular:
(a) compliance of administrative practices with Union rules;
(b) the existence of the requisite supporting documents and
their correlation with the operations financed by the
EAGF or the EAFRD;
(c) the terms on which the operations financed by the EAGF or
the EAFRD were undertaken and checked.
(d) whether a paying agency complies with the accreditation
criteria laid down in Article 7(2) and whether the Member
State correctly applies the provisions of Article 7(5).
Persons authorised by the Commission to carry out on-the-spot
checks on its behalf, or Commission agents acting within the
scope of the powers conferred on them, shall have access to the
books and all other documents, including documents and
metadata drawn up or received and recorded on an electronic
medium, relating to expenditure financed by the EAGF or the
EAFRD.
The powers to carry out on-the-spot checks shall not affect the
application of national provisions which reserve certain acts for
agents specifically designated by national law. Without prejudice
to the specific provisions of Regulation (EU, Euratom)
No 883/2013 (
2
) of the European Parliament and of the
Council and Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96, persons
authorised by the Commission to act on its behalf shall not
take part, inter alia, in home visits or the formal questioning of
persons on the basis of law of the Member State concerned.
However, they shall have access to information thus obtained.
EN
(
1
) Council Regulation (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96 of 11 November
1996 concerning on-the-spot checks and inspections carried out
by the Commission in order to protect the European Communities'
financial interests against fraud and other irregularities (OJ L 292,
5.11.1996, p. 2).
(
2
) Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 883/2013 of the European Parliament
and of the Council of 11 September 2013 concerning investigations
conducted by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) and repealing
Regulation (EC) No 1073/1999 of the European Parliament and of
the Council and Council Regulation (Euratom) No 1074/1999
(OJ L 248, 18.9.2013, p. 1).
2. The Commission shall give sufficient prior notice of an
on-the-spot check to the Member State concerned or to the
Member State within whose territory the check is to take
place, taking into account the administrative impact on
paying agencies when organising checks. Agents from the
Member State concerned may take part in such checks.
At the request of the Commission and with the agreement of
the Member State, additional checks or inquiries into the oper
ations covered by this Regulation shall be undertaken by the
competent bodies of that Member State. Commission agents or
persons authorised by the Commission to act on its behalf may
take part in such checks.
In order to improve checks, the Commission may, with the
agreement of the Member States concerned, request the
assistance of the authorities of those Member States for
certain checks or inquiries.
Article 48
Access to information
1. Member States shall make available to the Commission all
information necessary for the smooth operation of the Funds
and shall take all appropriate measures to facilitate the checks
which the Commission deems appropriate in connection with
the management of Union financing, including on-the-spot
checks.
2. Member States shall communicate to the Commission at
its request the laws, regulations and administrative provisions
which they have adopted in order to implement the Union legal
acts relating to the CAP, where those acts have a financial
impact on the EAGF or the EAFRD.
3. Member States shall make available to the Commission
information about irregularities and suspected fraud cases
detected, as well as information about the steps taken
pursuant to Section III of this Chapter to recover undue
payments in connection with those irregularities and frauds.
Article 49
Access to documents
The accredited paying agencies shall keep supporting documents
relating to payments made and documents relating to the
performance of the administrative and physical checks
required by Union law, and shall make the documents and
information available to the Commission. Those supporting
documents may be kept in electronic form under the conditions
laid down by the Commission on the basis of Article 50(2).
Where those documents are kept by an authority acting under
delegation from a paying agency and responsible for authorising
expenditure, that authority shall send reports to the accredited
paying agency on the number of checks made, their content
and the measures taken in the light of their results.
Article 50
Commission powers
1. In order to ensure the correct and efficient application of
the provisions relating to on-the-spot checks and access to
documents and information set out in this Chapter, the
accordance with Article 115 supplementing specific obligations
to be complied with by the Member States under this Chapter.
down rules on:
(a) the procedures relating to the specific obligations which the
Member States have to comply with in relation to the
checks provided for in this Chapter;
(b) the procedures relating to the cooperation obligations to be
complied with by the Member States for the implemen
tation of Articles 47 and 48;
(c) the procedures and other practical arrangements relating to
the reporting obligation referred to in Article 48(3);
(d) the conditions under which the supporting documents
referred to in Article 49 are to be kept, including their
form and the time period of their storage.
S e c t i o n I I
C l e a r a n c e
Article 51
Clearance of accounts
Prior to 31 May of the year following the budget year in
question and on the basis of the information transmitted in
accordance with point (c) of Article 102(1), the Commission
shall adopt implementing acts, containing its decision on the
clearance of the accounts of the accredited paying agencies.
Those implementing acts shall cover the completeness,
accuracy and veracity of the annual accounts submitted and
shall be without prejudice to the content of decisions
subsequently adopted pursuant to Article 52.
the advisory procedure referred to in Article 116(2).
Article 52
Conformity clearance
1. Where it finds that expenditure falling within the scope of
Article 4(1) and Article 5 has not been effected in conformity
with Union law and, in respect of the EAFRD, has not been
effected in conformity with the applicable Union and national
law referred to in Article 85 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013,
the Commission shall adopt implementing acts determining the
amounts to be excluded from Union financing. Those imple
menting acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory
EN
2. The Commission shall assess the amounts to be excluded
on the basis of the gravity of the non-conformity recorded. It
shall take due account of the nature of the infringement and of
the financial damage caused to the Union. It shall base the
exclusion on the identification of amounts unduly spent and,
where these cannot be identified with proportionate effort, may
apply extrapolated or flat-rate corrections. Flat-rate corrections
shall only be applied where, due to the nature of the case or
because the Member State has not provided the Commission
with the necessary information, it is not possible with propor
tionate effort to identify more precisely the financial damage
caused to the Union.
3. Before the adoption of any decision to refuse financing,
the findings from the Commission's inspection and the Member
State's replies shall be notified in writing, following which the
two parties shall attempt to reach agreement on the action to
be taken. At that point in the procedure the Member States
shall be given the opportunity to demonstrate that the actual
extent of the non-compliance is less than in the Commission's
assessment.
If agreement is not reached, the Member State may request the
opening of a procedure aimed at reconciling, within a period of
four months, each party's position. A report of the outcome of
the procedure shall be submitted to the Commission. The
Commission shall take into account the recommendations in
the report before deciding on any refusal of financing and
shall give reasons if it decides not to follow those recommen
dations.
4. Financing may not be refused for:
(a) expenditure as indicated in Article 4(1) which is effected
more than 24 months before the Commission notifies the
Member State in writing of its inspection findings;
(b) expenditure on multiannual measures falling within the
scope of Article 4(1) or within the scope of the programmes
as indicated in Article 5, where the final obligation on the
recipient occurs more than 24 months before the
Commission notifies the Member State in writing of its
inspection findings;
(c) expenditure on measures in programmes, as indicated in
Article 5, other than those referred to in point (b) of this
paragraph, for which the payment or, as the case may be,
the final payment, by the paying agency, is made more than
24 months before the Commission notifies the Member
State in writing of its inspection findings.
5. Paragraph 4 shall not apply in the case of:
(a) irregularities covered by Section III of this Chapter;
(b) national aids for which the Commission has initiated the
procedure laid down in Article 108(2) TFEU or
infringements which the Commission has notified to the
Member State concerned by a letter of formal notice in
accordance with Article 258 TFEU;
(c) infringements by Member States of their obligations under
Chapter III of Title V of this Regulation, provided that the
Commission notifies the Member State in writing of its
inspection findings within 12 months following receipt of
the Member State's report on the results of its checks on the
expenditure concerned.
Article 53
Commission powers
down rules on:
(a) the clearance of accounts provided for in Article 51 with
regard to the measures to be taken in connection with the
adoption of the decision and its implementation, including
the information exchange between the Commission and the
Member States and the deadlines to be respected;
(b) the conformity clearance provided for in Article 52 with
regard to the measures to be taken in connection with
the adoption of the decision and its implementation,
including the information exchange between the
Commission and the Member States and the deadlines to
be respected as well as the conciliation procedure provided
for in that Article, including the establishment, tasks,
composition and working arrangements of the conciliation
body.
2. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance
with the examination procedure referred to in Article 116(3).
3. In order to enable the Commission to protect the financial
interest of the Union and to ensure the provisions relating to
the conformity clearance provided for in Article 52 are applied
efficiently, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt
delegated acts in accordance with Article 115, concerning the
criteria and methodology for applying corrections.
S e c t i o n I I I
I r r e g u l a r i t i e s
Article 54
Common Provisions
1. For any undue payment following the occurrence of
irregularity or negligence, Member States shall request
recovery from the beneficiary within 18 months after the
approval and, where applicable, reception, by the paying
agency or body responsible for the recovery, of a control
report or similar document, stating that an irregularity has
taken place. The corresponding amounts shall be recorded at
the time of the recovery request in the debtors' ledger of the
paying agency.
EN
2. If recovery has not taken place within four years from the
date of the recovery request, or within eight years where
recovery is taken in the national courts, 50 % of the financial
consequences of the non-recovery shall be borne by the
Member State concerned and 50 % by the Union's budget,
without prejudice to the requirement that the Member State
concerned must pursue recovery procedures in compliance
with Article 58.
Where, in the context of the recovery procedure, the absence of
any irregularity is recorded by an administrative or legal
instrument of a final nature, the Member State concerned
shall declare as expenditure to the Funds the financial burden
borne by it under the first subparagraph.
However, if for reasons not attributable to the Member State
concerned, it is not possible for recovery to take place within
the time limit specified in the first subparagraph, and the
amount to be recovered exceeds EUR 1 million, the
Commission may, at the request of the Member State, extend
the time-limit by a period of up to half of the original period.
3. On duly justified grounds, Member States may decide not
to pursue recovery. A decision to this effect may be taken only
in the following cases:
(a) where the costs already and likely to be effected total more
than the amount to be recovered, which condition shall be
considered to have been met if:
(i) the amount to be recovered from the beneficiary in the
context of an individual payment for an aid scheme or
support measure, not including interest, does not exceed
EUR 100; or
(ii) the amount to be recovered from the beneficiary in the
context of an individual payment for an aid scheme or
support measure, not including interest, falls between
EUR 100 and EUR 150 and the Member State
concerned applies a threshold equal to or higher than
the amount to be recovered under its national law for
not pursuing national debts.
(b) where recovery proves impossible owing to the insolvency,
recorded and recognised under national law, of the debtor
or the persons legally responsible for the irregularity.
Where the decision referred to in the first subparagraph of this
paragraph is taken before the outstanding amount has been
subject to the rules referred to in paragraph 2, the financial
consequence of non-recovery shall be borne by the Union's
budget.
4. Member States shall enter in the annual accounts to be
sent to the Commission under point (c)(iv) of Article 102(1) the
amounts to be borne by them under paragraph 2 of this Article.
The Commission shall check that this has been done and make
any adjustments needed in the implementing act referred to in
Article 51.
5. The Commission may, provided that the procedure laid
down in Article 52(3) has been followed, adopt, implementing
acts, excluding from Union financing sums charged to the
Union's budget in the following cases:
(a) if the Member State has not respected the time limits
referred to in paragraph 1;
(b) if it considers that the decision not to pursue recovery taken
by a Member State pursuant to paragraph 3 is not justified;
(c) if it considers that an irregularity or lack of recovery is the
outcome of irregularity or negligence attributable to the
administrative authorities or another official body of the
Member State.
the advisory procedure referred to in Article 116(2).
Article 55
Provisions specific to the EAGF
Sums recovered following the occurrence of irregularity or
negligence and the interest thereon shall be made over to the
paying agency and booked by it as revenue assigned to the
EAGF in the month in which the money is actually received.
When the Union's budget is credited as referred to in the first
paragraph, the Member State may retain 20 % of the
corresponding amounts as flat rate recovery costs, except in
cases of irregularity or negligence attributable to its adminis
trative authorities or other official bodies.
Article 56
Provisions specific to the EAFRD
Where irregularities or negligence are detected in rural devel
opment operations or programmes, Member States shall make
financial adjustments by totally or partially cancelling the Union
financing concerned. Member States shall take into
consideration the nature and gravity of the irregularities
detected and the level of the financial loss to the EAFRD.
Amounts of the Union financing under the EAFRD which are
cancelled and amounts recovered, as well as the interest
thereon, shall be reallocated to the programme concerned.
However, the cancelled or recovered Union funds may be
reused by Member States only for an operation under the
same rural development programme and provided the funds
are not reallocated to operations which have been the subject
of a financial adjustment. After the closure of a rural devel
opment programme, the Member State shall refund the sums
recovered to the Union's budget.
EN
Article 57
Commission powers
1. In order to ensure correct and efficient application of the
provisions relating to the conditions for the recovery of undue
payments and interest thereon, the Commission shall be
Article 115 concerning specific obligations to be complied
with by the Member States.
down rules on:
(a) the procedures for the recovery of undue payments and
interest as set out in this Section and for keeping the
Commission apprised of pending recoveries;
(b) the forms of notification and communication to be made by
the Member States to the Commission in relation to the
obligations set out in this Section.
TITLE V
CONTROL SYSTEMS AND PENALTIES
CHAPTER I
General rules
Article 58
Protection of the financial interests of the Union
1. Member States shall, within the framework of the CAP,
adopt all legislative, regulatory and administrative provisions
and take any other measures necessary to ensure effective
protection of the financial interests of the Union, in particular
to:
(a) check the legality and regularity of operations financed by
the Funds;
(b) ensure effective prevention against fraud, especially in areas
with a higher level of risk, and which will act as a deterrent,
having regard to the costs and benefits as well as the
proportionality of the measures;
(c) prevent, detect and correct irregularities and fraud;
(d) impose penalties which are effective, dissuasive and propor
tionate in accordance with Union law, or failing this,
national law, and bring legal proceedings to that effect, as
necessary;
(e) recover undue payments plus interest, and bring legal
proceedings to that effect as necessary.
2. Member States shall set up efficient management and
control systems in order to ensure compliance with the legis
lation governing Union support schemes aimed at minimising
the risk of financial damage to the Union.
3. Member States shall inform the Commission of the
provisions adopted and measures taken under paragraphs 1
and 2.
Any conditions established by Member States to supplement the
conditions laid down by Union rules for receiving support
financed by the EAGF or the EAFRD shall be verifiable.
4. The Commission may adopt implementing acts, laying
down rules necessary for the uniform application of this
Article relating to the following:
(a) the procedures, deadlines, exchange of information in
relation to the obligations as set out in paragraphs 1 and 2;
(b) the notification and communication to be made by the
Member States to the Commission in relation to the
obligation set out in paragraph 3.
Article 59
General principles of checks
1. Except where otherwise provided, the system set up by the
Member States in accordance with Article 58(2) shall include
systematic administrative checking of all aid applications and
payment claims. That system shall be supplemented by on-
the-spot checks.
2. As regards the on-the-spot checks, the authority
responsible shall draw its check sample from the entire popu
lation of applicants comprising, where appropriate, a random
part in order to obtain a representative error rate and a risk-
based part, which shall target the areas where the risk of errors
is the highest.
3. The authority responsible shall draw up a report on each
on-the-spot check.
4. Where appropriate, all on-the-spot checks provided for in
Union rules regarding agricultural aid and rural development
support shall be carried out at the same time.
5. Member States shall ensure a minimum level of on-the-
spot checks needed for an effective management of the risks,
and shall increase that minimum level where necessary. Member
States may reduce that minimum level where the management
and control systems function properly and the error rates
remain at an acceptable level.
EN
6. In cases to be provided for by the Commission on the
basis of point (h) of Article 62(2), aid applications and payment
claims or any other communications, claims or requests may be
corrected and adjusted after their submission in cases of obvious
errors recognised by the competent authority.
7. An aid application or payment claim shall be rejected if
the beneficiary or his representative prevents an on-the-spot
check from being carried out, except in cases of force
majeure or in exceptional circumstances.
Article 60
Circumvention clause
Without prejudice to specific provisions, no advantage provided
for under sectoral agricultural legislation shall be granted in
favour of a natural or legal person in respect of whom it is
established that the conditions required for obtaining such
advantages were created artificially, contrary to the objectives
of that legislation.
Article 61
Compatibility of support schemes for the purposes of
checks in the wine sector
For the purposes of applying the support schemes in the wine
sector as referred to in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013, Member
States shall ensure that the administration and control
procedures applied to those schemes are compatible with the
integrated system referred to in Chapter II of this Title as
regards the following elements:
(a) the computerised database;
(b) the identification systems for agricultural parcels;
(c) the administrative checks.
The procedures shall allow a common functioning or the
exchange of data with the integrated system.
Article 62
Commission powers as regards checks
1. In order to ensure that the checks are carried out correctly
and efficiently and that the eligibility conditions are verified in
an efficient, coherent and non-discriminatory manner which
protects the financial interest of the Union, the Commission
shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance
with Article 115, laying down, where the proper management
of the system so requires, additional requirements with respect
to customs procedures, and in particular to those laid down in
Regulation (EC) No 952/2013 of the European Parliament and
of the Council (
1
).
2. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts, laying
down rules necessary for the uniform application of this
Chapter, and in particular:
(a) rules on administrative and on-the-spot checks to be
conducted by the Member States with regard to the
respect of obligations, commitments and eligibility criteria
resulting from the application of Union law;
(b) rules on the minimum level of on-the-spot checks and on
the obligation to increase it or the possibility of reducing it
as set out in Article 59(5);
(c) the rules and methods applicable to the reporting of the
checks and verifications carried out and their results;
(d) the authorities responsible for performing the checks for
compliance as well as to the content, the frequency and
the marketing stage to which those checks are to apply;
(e) with regard to hemp as referred to in Article 52 of Regu
lation (EU) No 1307/2013, rules on the specific control
measures and methods for determining tetrahydrocan
nabinol levels;
(f) with regard to cotton as referred to in Article 56 of Regu
lation (EU) No 1307/2013, a system for checks of the
approved interbranch organisations;
(g) with regard to wine as referred to in Regulation (EU)
No 1308/2013, rules on the measurement of areas, on
checks and on rules governing the specific financial
procedures for the improvement of checks;
(h) the cases in which aid applications and payments claims or
any other communications, claims or requests may be
corrected and adjusted after their submission, as referred
to in Article 59(6);
(i) the tests and methods to be applied in order to establish the
eligibility of products for public intervention and private
storage, as well as the use of tendering procedures, both
for public intervention and for private storage.
Article 63
Undue payments and administrative penalties
1. Where it is found that a beneficiary does not comply with
the eligibility criteria, commitments or other obligations relating
to the conditions for the granting of the aid or support, as
provided for in the sectoral agricultural legislation, the aid
shall not be paid or shall be withdrawn in full or in part
and, where relevant, the corresponding payment entitlements
as referred to in Article 21 of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013
shall not be allocated or shall be withdrawn.
EN
(
1
the Council of 9 October 2013 laying down the Union Customs
Code (OJ L 269, 10.10.2013, p. 1).
2. Moreover, where sectoral agricultural legislation so
provides, Member States shall also impose administrative
penalties, in accordance with the rules laid down in Article 64
and Article 77. This shall be without prejudice to the provisions
set out in Articles 91 to 101 of Title VI.
3. Without prejudice to Article 54(3), the amounts, including
interest thereon, and payment entitlements, concerned by the
withdrawal referred to in paragraph 1 and by the penalties
referred to in paragraph 2 shall be recovered.
4. The Commission shall adopt delegated acts in accordance
with Article 115 laying down the conditions for the partial or
total withdrawal referred to in paragraph 1.
down detailed procedural and technical rules on:
(a) the application and calculation of the partial or total with
drawal referred to in paragraph 1;
(b) the recovery of undue payments and penalties as well as in
respect of unduly allocated payment entitlements and the
application of interest.
Article 64
Application of administrative penalties
1. As regards the administrative penalties referred to in
Article 63(2), this Article shall apply in cases of non-compliance
in relation to eligibility criteria, commitments or other
obligations resulting from the application of sectoral agricultural
legislation, with the exception of those referred to in Articles 67
to 78 of Chapter II of this Title and in Articles 91 to 101 of
Title VI and of those subject to the penalties provided for in
Article 89(3) and 89(4).
2. No administrative penalties shall be imposed:
(a) where the non-compliance is due to force majeure;
(b) where the non-compliance is due to obvious errors as
referred to in Article 59(6);
(c) where the non-compliance is due to an error of the
competent authority or another authority, and where the
error could not reasonably have been detected by the
person concerned by the administrative penalty;
(d) where the person concerned can demonstrate to the satis
faction of the competent authority that he or she is not at
fault for the non-compliance with the obligations referred to
in paragraph 1 or if the competent authority is otherwise
satisfied that the person concerned is not at fault;
(e) where the non-compliance is of a minor nature, including
where expressed in the form of a threshold, to be set by the
Commission in accordance with point (b) of paragraph 7;
(f) other cases in which the imposition of a penalty is not
appropriate, to be defined by the Commission in accordance
with point (b) of paragraph 6.
3. Administrative penalties may be imposed on the bene
ficiary of the aid or support and on other natural or legal
persons, including groups or associations of such beneficiaries
or other persons, bound by the obligations laid down in the
rules referred to in paragraph 1.
4. The administrative penalties may take one of the
following forms:
(a) a reduction in the amount of aid or support to be paid in
relation to the aid application or payment claim affected by
the non-compliance or further applications; however as
regards rural development support, this shall be without
prejudice to the possibility of suspending the support
where it can be expected that the non-compliance can be
addressed by the beneficiary within a reasonable time;
(b) payment of an amount calculated on the basis of the
quantity and/or the period concerned by the non-
compliance;
(c) suspension or withdrawal of an approval, recognition or
authorisation;
(d) exclusion from the right to participate in or benefit from
the aid scheme or support measure or other measure
concerned;
5. The administrative penalties shall be proportionate and
graduated according to the severity, extent, duration and reoc
currence of the non-compliance found, and shall respect the
following limits:
(a) the amount of the administrative penalty as referred to in
point (a) of paragraph 4 shall not exceed 200 % of the
amount of the aid application or payment claim;
(b) notwithstanding point (a), as regards rural development, the
amount of the administrative penalty, as referred to in point
(a) of paragraph 4, shall not exceed 100 % of the eligible
amount;
(c) the amount of the administrative penalty, as referred to in
point (b) of paragraph 4, shall not exceed an amount
comparable to the percentage referred to in point (a) of
this paragraph;
(d) the suspension, withdrawal or exclusion referred to in
points (c) and (d) of paragraph 4 may be set at a
maximum of three consecutive years which may be
renewed in the case of any new non-compliance.
EN
6. In order to take account of the deterrent effect of charges
and penalties to be imposed on the one hand, and the special
characteristics of each aid scheme or support measure covered
by sectoral agricultural legislation on the other hand, the
accordance with Article 115:
(a) identifying, for each aid scheme or support measure and
person concerned as referred to in paragraph 3, from the
list set out in paragraph 4 and within the limits laid down
in paragraph 5, the administrative penalty and determining
the specific rate to be imposed by Member States including
in cases of non-quantifiable non-compliance;
(b) identifying the cases in which the administrative penalties
are not to be imposed, as referred to in point (f) of
paragraph 2.
down detailed procedural and technical rules for the uniform
application of this Article on:
(a) the application and calculation of the administrative
penalties;
(b) the detailed rules for identifying a non-compliance as minor,
including the setting of a quantitative threshold expressed as
a nominal value or a percentage of the eligible amount of
aid or support, which as regards rural development support
shall not be less than 3 % and which as regards all other aid
or support shall not be less than 1 %;
(c) the rules identifying the cases in which, due to the nature of
the penalties, Member States may retain the penalties
recovered.
Article 65
Suspension of payments to the Member States in specific
cases covered by Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013
1. Where Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 requires Member
States to submit, within a set period, specific information and
the Member States fail to send that information within that
period or at all, or send incorrect information, the Commission
may suspend the monthly payments referred to in Article 18
provided that the Commission has made available to the
Member States in good time the information, forms and expla
nations needed. The amount to be suspended shall relate to the
expenditure for the market measures for which the required
information was not sent or was not sent in time or is
incorrect.
2. In order to ensure the respect of the proportionality
principle when applying paragraph 1, the Commission shall
Article 115 concerning the market measures falling under the
suspension and the rate and period of suspension of payments
referred to in paragraph 1.
down detailed rules on the procedure and other practical
arrangements for the proper functioning of the suspension of
monthly payments referred to in the paragraph 1. Those imple
menting acts shall be adopted in accordance with the exam
ination procedure referred to in Article 116(3).
Article 66
Securities
1. The Member States shall, when the sectoral agricultural
legislation so provides, request the lodging of a security giving
the assurance that a sum of money will be paid or forfeited to a
competent authority if a particular obligation under sectoral
agricultural legislation is not fulfilled.
2. Except in cases of force majeure, the security shall be
forfeited in whole or in part where the execution of a particular
obligation is not carried out, or is carried out only partially.
3. The Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated
acts in accordance with Article 115 laying down rules which
ensure a non discriminatory treatment, equity and the respect of
proportionality when lodging a security, and:
(a) specifying the responsible party in the event that an
obligation is not met;
(b) laying down the specific situations in which the competent
authority may waive the requirement of a security;
(c) laying down the conditions applying to the security to be
lodged and the guarantor and the conditions for lodging
and releasing that security;
(d) laying down the specific conditions related to the security
lodged in connection with advance payments;
(e) setting out the consequences of breaching the obligations
for which a security has been lodged, as provided for in
paragraph 1, including the forfeiting of securities, the rate of
reduction to be applied on release of securities for refunds,
licences, offers, tenders or specific applications and when an
obligation covered by that security has not been met either
wholly or in part, taking into account the nature of the
obligation, the quantity for which the obligation has been
breached, the period exceeding the time limit by which the
obligation should have been met and the time by which
evidence that the obligation has been met is produced.
down rules on:
(a) the form of the security to be lodged and the procedure for
lodging the security, for accepting it, and for replacing the
original security;
EN
(b) the procedures for the release of a security;
(c) the notifications to be made by Member States and by the
Commission.
CHAPTER II
Integrated Administration and Control System
Article 67
Scope and terms used
1. Each Member State shall set up and operate an integrated
administration and control system (the 'integrated system').
2. The integrated system shall apply to the support schemes
listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 and to the
support granted in accordance with points (a) and (b) of
Article 21(1) and Articles 28 to 31, 33, 34 and 40 of Regu
lation 1305/2013 and where applicable points (b) and (c) of
Article 35(1) of Regulation (EU) 1303/2013.
This Chapter shall not, however, apply to measures referred to
in Article 28(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013. Nor shall it
apply to, measures under points (a) and (b) of Article 21(1) of
that Regulation as far as the establishment cost is concerned.
3. To the extent necessary, the integrated system shall
also apply to the control of cross-compliance as laid down in
Title VI.
4. For the purpose of this Chapter:
(a) "agricultural parcel" means a continuous area of land,
declared by one farmer, which does not cover more than
one single crop group; however, where a separate
declaration of the use of an area within a crop group is
required in the context of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013,
that specific use shall if necessary further limit the agri
cultural parcel; Member States may lay down additional
criteria for further delimitation of an agricultural parcel;
(b) "area-related direct payment" means the basic payment
scheme; the single area payment scheme and the redis
tributive payment referred to in Chapter 1 of Title III of
Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013; the payment for agri
cultural practices beneficial for the climate and the
environment referred to in Chapter 3 of Title III of Regu
lation (EU) No 1307/2013; the payment for areas with
natural constraints referred to in Chapter 4 of Title III of
Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013; the payment for young
farmers referred to in Chapter 5 of Title III of Regulation
(EU) No 1307/2013; the voluntary coupled support referred
to in Chapter 1 of Title IV, where the support is paid per
hectare; the crop specific payment for cotton referred to in
Chapter 2 of Title IV; the small farmers scheme as referred
to in Title V of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013; specific
measures for agriculture in the outermost regions of the
Union as referred to in Chapter IV of Regulation (EU)
No 228/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Coun
cil (
1
), where support is paid per hectare; and specific
measures for agriculture in favour of the smaller Aegean
islands as referred to in Chapter IV of Regulation (EU)
cil (
2
), where the support is paid per hectare.
Article 68
Elements of the integrated system
1. The integrated system shall comprise the following
elements:
(a) a computerised database;
(b) an identification system for agricultural parcels;
(c) a system for the identification and registration of payment
entitlements;
(d) aid applications and payment claims;
(e) an integrated control system;
(f) a single system to record the identity of each beneficiary of
the support referred to in Article 67(2) who submits an aid
application or a payment claim.
2. Where applicable, the integrated system shall include a
system, set up in accordance with Regulation (EC)
cil (
3
) and Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 (
4
) for the
identification and registration of animals.
3. Without prejudice to the responsibilities of the Member
States for the implementation and application of the integrated
system, the Commission may seek the assistance of specialised
bodies or persons in order to facilitate the establishment, moni
toring and operation of the integrated system, in particular, with
a view to providing the competent authorities of the Member
States with technical advice, should they request it.
EN
(
1
the Council of 13 March 2013 laying down specific measures for
agriculture in the outermost regions of the Union and repealing
Council Regulation (EC) No 247/2006 (OJ L 78, 20.3.2013, p. 23).
(
2
the Council of 13 March 2013 laying down specific measures for
agriculture in favour of the smaller Aegean islands and repealing
Council Regulation (EC) No 1405/2006 (OJ L 78, 20.3.2013, p. 41).
(
3
) Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European Parliament and of
the Council of 17 July 2000 establishing a system for the identifi
cation and registration of bovine animals and regarding the labelling
of beef and beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC)
No 820/97 (OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1).
(
4
) Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 of 17 December 2003 estab
lishing a system for the identification and registration of ovine and
caprine animals and amending Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and
Directives 92/102/EEC and 64/432/EEC (OJ L 5, 9.1.2004, p. 8).
4. Member States shall take all further measures required for
the proper application of the integrated system and shall give
one another the mutual assistance needed for the purposes of
the checks required under this Regulation.
Article 69
Computerised database
1. The computerised database ("the database") shall record,
for each beneficiary of the support referred to in Article 67(2),
the data obtained from aid applications and payment claims.
The database shall, in particular, allow consultation through the
competent authority of the Member State, of the data relating to
the current calendar and/or marketing years and to the previous
ten such years. Where the support level of farmers is affected by
the data relating to earlier calendar and/or marketing years,
starting with 2000, the database shall also allow consultation
of the data relating to those years. The database shall also allow
direct and immediate consultation of the data relating to at least
the previous four consecutive calendar years and for data related
to "permanent pasture" as defined in point (c) of Article 2 of
Commission Regulation (EC) No 1120/2009 (
1
) in its original
version and, for periods as from its date of application, "per
manent grassland and permanent pasture" as defined in point
(h) of Article 4(1) of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, relating to
at least the previous five consecutive calendar years.
By way of derogation from the second subparagraph, the
Member States which acceded to the Union in or after 2004,
shall only be required to ensure consultation of the data as from
the year of their accession.
2. Member States may set up decentralised databases on
condition that these, and the administrative procedures for
recording and accessing data, are designed to be homogeneous
throughout the territory of the Member State and are
compatible with one another in order to allow for cross-checks.
Article 70
Identification system for agricultural parcels
1. The identification system for agricultural parcels shall be
established on the basis of maps, land registry documents or
other cartographic references. Use shall be made of
computerised geographical information system techniques,
including aerial or spatial orthoimagery, with a homogenous
standard that guarantees a level of accuracy that is at least
equivalent to that of cartography at a scale of 1:10 000 and,
as from 2016, at a scale of 1:5 000, while taking into account
the outline and condition of the parcel. This shall be fixed in
accordance with existing Union standards.
Notwithstanding the first subparagraph, Member States may
continue to make use of such techniques including aerial or
spatial orthoimagery, with a homogenous standard that guar
antees a level of accuracy that is at least equivalent to that of
cartography at a scale of 1:10 000 where they were acquired on
the basis of long-term contracts that were agreed before
November 2012.
2. Member States shall ensure that the identification system
for agricultural parcels contains a reference layer to accom
modate ecological focus areas. That reference layer shall, in
particular, cover the relevant specific commitments and/or envi
ronmental certification schemes referred to in Article 43(3) of
Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 that are equivalent to the
practices in Article 46 of that Regulation before the application
forms referred to in Article 72 of this Regulation for payments
for agricultural practices beneficial for the climate and the
environment referred to in Articles 43 to 46 of Regulation
(EU) No 1307/2013 are provided in respect of claim year
2018 at the latest.
Article 71
System for the identification and registration of payment
entitlements
1. The system for the identification and registration of
payment entitlements shall allow for verification of the
entitlements and for cross-checks with the aid applications
and the identification system for agricultural parcels.
2. The system referred to in paragraph 1 shall allow direct
and immediate consultation, through the competent authority
of the Member State, of the data relating to at least the previous
four consecutive calendar years.
Article 72
Aid applications and payment claims
1. Each year, a beneficiary of the support referred to in
Article 67(2) shall submit an application for direct payments
or a payment claim for the relevant area and animal-related
rural development measures respectively indicating, where appli
cable:
(a) all the agricultural parcels on the holding, as well as the
non-agricultural area for which support referred to in
Article 67(2) is claimed;
(b) the payment entitlements declared for activation;
(c) any other information provided for in this Regulation or
required with a view to the implementation of the relevant
sectoral agricultural legislation or by the Member State
concerned.
As regards the area-related direct payment, each Member State
shall determine the minimum size of agricultural parcels in
respect of which an application may be made. However, the
minimum size shall not exceed 0,3 ha.
EN
(
1
) Commission Regulation (EC) No 1120/2009 of 29 October 2009
laying down detailed rules for the implementation of the single
payment scheme provided for in Title III of Council Regulation
(EC) No 73/2009 establishing common rules for direct support
schemes for farmers under the common agricultural policy and
establishing certain support schemes for farmers (OJ L 316,
2.12.2009, p. 1).
2. By way of derogation from point (a) of paragraph 1,
Member States may decide that agricultural parcels of an area
of up to 0,1 ha on which an application for payment is not
made, do not need to be declared, provided that the sum of
such parcels does not exceed 1 ha, and/or may decide that a
farmer who does not apply for any area-based direct payment
does not have to declare his agricultural parcels in the case
where the total area does not exceed 1 ha. In all cases, the
farmer shall, indicate in his application that he has agricultural
parcels at his disposal and at the request of the competent
authorities, shall indicate their location.
3. Member States shall provide, inter alia through electronic
means, pre-established forms based on the areas determined in
the previous year as well as graphic material indicating the
location of those areas.
A Member State may decide that the aid application and the
payment claim:
(a) are valid if the beneficiary confirms the absence of changes
with respect to the aid application and the payment claim
submitted the previous year,
(b) need to contain only changes with respect to the aid appli
cation and the payment claim submitted for the previous
year.
However, with regard to the small farmers scheme provided for
in Title V of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, that possibility
shall be given to all farmers concerned.
4. A Member State may decide that a single application shall
cover a number of or all support schemes and measures referred
to in Article 67 or other support schemes and measures.
5. By way of derogation from Council Regulation (EEC,
Euratom) No 1182/71 (
1
), the calculation of the date for the
submission or the amendment of an aid application, of a
payment claim or of any supporting documents, contracts or
declarations under this Chapter shall be adapted to the specific
requirements of the integrated system. The Commission shall be
Article 115 concerning rules applicable to periods, dates and
time limits where the final date for submission of applications
or amendments is a public holiday, a Saturday or a Sunday.
Article 73
System for the identification of beneficiaries
The single system for recording the identity of each beneficiary
of the support as referred to in Article 67(2) shall guarantee
that all aid applications and payment claims submitted by the
same beneficiary can be identified as such.
Article 74
Verification of eligibility conditions and reductions
1. In accordance with Article 59, Member States, through the
paying agencies or the bodies delegated by them, shall carry out
administrative checks on the aid application to verify the eligi
bility conditions for the aid. Those checks shall be supple
mented by on-the-spot checks.
2. For the purpose of on-the-spot checks Member States shall
draw up a sampling plan of agricultural holdings and/or bene
ficiaries.
3. Member States may use remote sensing and Global Navi
gation Satellite System (GNSS) techniques as a means of
carrying out on-the-spot checks on agricultural parcels.
4. In the case of non -compliance with the eligibility
conditions Article 63 shall apply.
Article 75
Payment to beneficiaries
1. The payments under the support schemes and the
measures referred to in Article 67(2) shall be made within the
period from 1 December to 30 June of the following calendar
year.
Payments shall be made in a maximum of two instalments
within that period.
Notwithstanding the first and second subparagraphs, Member
States may, prior to 1 December but not before 16 October,
pay advances of up to 50 % for direct payments and of up to
75 % for the support granted under rural development as
With regard to support granted under rural development, as
referred to in Article 67(2), this paragraph shall apply in
respect of the aid applications or payment claims submitted
from claim year 2018, except as regards the payment of
advances of up to 75 % provided for in the third subparagraph
of this paragraph.
2. Payments referred to in the paragraph 1 shall not be made
before the verification of eligibility conditions, to be carried out
by the Member States pursuant to Article 74, has been finalised.
By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, advances for
support granted under rural development as referred to in
Article 67(2) may be paid after the administrative checks
pursuant to Article 59(1) have been finalised.
3. In the event of an emergency, the Commission shall adopt
implementing acts which are both necessary and justifiable, in
order to resolve specific problems in relation to the application
of this Article. Such implementing acts may derogate from
paragraphs 1 and 2, but only to the extent that, and for such
a period, as is strictly necessary.
EN
(
1
) Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 1182/71 of the Council of 3 June
1971 determining the rules applicable to periods, dates and time
limits (OJ L 124, 8.6.1971, p. 1).
Article 76
Delegated powers
1. In order to ensure that the integrated system provided for
in this Chapter is implemented in an efficient, coherent and
non-discriminatory way which protects the financial interests
of the Union, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt
delegated acts in accordance with Article 115 concerning:
(a) specific definitions needed to ensure a harmonised imple
mentation of the integrated system, in addition to those
provided for in Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 and Regu
lation (EU) No 1305/2013;
(b) with regards to Articles 67 to 75, rules on further measures
necessary to ensure the compliance with control
requirements laid down in this Regulation or in sectoral
agricultural legislation to be taken by the Member States
in respect of producers, services, bodies, organisations or
other operators, such as slaughterhouses or associations
involved in the procedure for the granting of the aid,
where this Regulation does not provide for relevant admin
istrative penalties; such measures shall as far as possible,
follow, mutatis mutandis, the provisions on penalties set
out in paragraphs (1) to (5) of Article 77.
2. In order to ensure a correct distribution of the funds
resulting from the aid applications provided for in Article 72
to the entitled beneficiaries and to allow for verification of the
fulfilment by them of the obligations related thereto, the
accordance with Article 115 concerning:
(a) the basic features, technical rules, including, for the update
of reference parcels, appropriate tolerance margins taking
into account the outline and condition of the parcel, and
including rules on the inclusion of landscape features
located adjacent to a parcel, and quality requirements for
the identification system for agricultural parcels provided for
in Article 70 and for the identification of the beneficiaries as
provided for in Article 73;
(b) the basic features, technical rules and quality requirements
of the system for the identification and registration of
payment entitlements provided for in Article 71;
(c) the rules to establish the definition of the basis for the
calculation of aid, including rules on how to deal with
certain cases in which eligible areas contain landscape
features or trees; such rules shall allow Member States for
areas under permanent grassland to consider scattered
landscape features and trees, the total area of which does
not exceed a certain percentage of the reference parcel, to
be automatically part of the eligible area without a
requirement to map them for that purpose.
Article 77
Application of administrative penalties
1. As regards the administrative penalties referred to in
Article 63(2), this Article shall apply in the case of non-
compliance with relation to eligibility criteria, commitments
or other obligations resulting from the application of the
rules on support referred to in Article 67(2).
2. No administrative penalty shall be imposed:
(a) where the non-compliance is due to force majeure;
(b) where the non-compliance is due to obvious errors as
referred to in Article 59(6);
(c) where the non-compliance is due to an error of the
competent authority or another authority, and where the
error could not reasonably have been detected by the
person concerned by the administrative penalty;
(d) where the person concerned can demonstrate to the satis
faction of the competent authority that he or she is not at
fault for the non-compliance with the obligations referred to
in paragraph 1 or if the competent authority is otherwise
satisfied that the person concerned is not at fault;
(e) where the non-compliance is of a minor nature, including
where expressed in the form of a threshold, to be set by the
Commission in accordance with point (b) of paragraph 7;
(f) other cases in which the imposition of a penalty is not
appropriate, to be defined by the Commission in accordance
with point (b) of paragraph 7.
3. Administrative penalties may be imposed on the bene
ficiary of the aid or support, including groups or associations
thereof, bound by the obligations laid down in the rules referred
to in paragraph 1.
4. The administrative penalties may take the following forms:
(a) a reduction in the amount of aid or support paid or to be
paid in relation to the aid applications or payment claims
affected by the non-compliance and/or in relation to aid
applications or payment claims for previous or subsequent
years;
(b) payment of an amount calculated on the basis of the
quantity and/or the period concerned by the non-
compliance;
(c) exclusion from the right to participate in the aid scheme or
support measure concerned.
EN
5. The administrative penalties shall be proportionate and
graduated according to the severity, extent, duration and reoc
currence of the non-compliance found and shall respect the
following limits:
(a) the amount of the administrative penalty for a given year, as
referred to in point (a) of paragraph 4, shall not exceed
100 % of the amounts of the aid applications or payment
claims;
(b) the amount of the administrative penalty for a given year, as
referred to in point (b) of paragraph 4, shall not exceed
100 % of the amount of the aid applications or payment
claims to which the penalty is applied;
(c) the exclusion referred to in point (c) of paragraph 4 may be
set at a maximum of three consecutive years, which may
apply again in the case of any new non-compliance.
6. Notwithstanding paragraphs 4 and 5, as regards the
payment referred to in Chapter 3 of Title III of Regulation
(EU) No 1307/2013, administrative penalties shall take the
form of a reduction in the amount of payments made or to
be made under that Regulation.
The administrative penalties referred to in this paragraph shall
be proportionate and graduated according to the severity,
extent, duration and reoccurrence of the non-compliance
concerned.
The amount of such administrative penalties for a given year
shall not exceed 0 % for the first two years of application of
Chapter 3 of Title III of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013 (claim
years 2015 and 2016), 20 % for the third year of application
(claim year 2017) and 25 % starting with the fourth year of
application (claim year 2018), of the amount of the payment
referred to in Chapter 3 of Title III of Regulation (EU)
No 1307/2013 to which the farmer concerned would be
entitled if the farmer met the conditions for that payment.
7. In order to take account of the deterrent effect of penalties
to be imposed on the one hand, and the specific characteristics
of each aid scheme or support measure referred to in
Article 67(2) on the other, the Commission shall be
Article 115:
(a) identifying, for each aid scheme or support measure and
person concerned as referred to in paragraph 3 from the
list set out in paragraph 4 and within the limits laid down
in paragraphs 5 and 6, the administrative penalty and deter
mining the specific rate to be imposed by Member States,
including in cases of non-quantifiable non-compliance;
(b) identifying, the cases in which the administrative penalties
are not to be imposed, as referred to in point (f) of
paragraph 2.
down detailed procedural and technical rules for the uniform
application of this Article on:
(a) rules on the application and calculation of the adminis
trative penalties;
(b) the detailed rules for identifying a non-compliance as minor,
including the setting of a quantitative threshold expressed as
a nominal value or a percentage of the eligible amount of
aid or support which shall not be less than 0,5 %.
Article 78
Implementing powers
the following:
(a) the basic features, technical rules and quality requirements
for the computerised database provided for in Article 69;
(b) rules on the aid applications and payments claims provided
for in Article 72, and applications for payment entitlements,
including the final date for submission of applications, the
requirements as to the minimum amount of information to
be included in applications, provisions for amendments to
or the withdrawal of aid applications, exemption from the
requirement to submit aid applications and provisions
which allow Member States to apply simplified procedures
or to correct obvious errors;
(c) rules on the carrying out of checks in order to verify
compliance with obligations, and the correctness and
completeness of the information provided in the aid appli
cation or payment claim, including rules on measurement
tolerances for on-the-spot checks;
(d) technical specifications needed for the purpose of the
uniform implementation of this Chapter;
(e) rules on situations of transfer of holdings accompanied by
the transfer of any obligation concerning eligibility in
respect of the aid in question which still needs to be
fulfilled;
(f) rules on the payment of the advances referred to in
Article 75.
CHAPTER III
Scrutiny of transactions
Article 79
Scope and definitions
1. This Chapter lays down specific rules on the scrutiny of
the commercial documents of those entities receiving or making
payments relating directly or indirectly to the system of
financing by the EAGF, or their representatives ('undertakings')
in order to ascertain whether transactions forming part of the
system of financing by the EAGF have actually been carried out
and have been executed correctly.
EN
2. This Chapter shall not apply to measures covered by the
integrated system referred to in Chapter II of this Title. In order
to respond to changes in sectoral agricultural legislation and to
ensure the efficiency of the system of ex-post controls estab
lished by this Chapter, the Commission shall be empowered to
adopt delegated acts in accordance with Article 115 establishing
a list of measures which, due to their design and control
requirements, are unsuited for additional ex-post controls by
way of scrutiny of commercial documents and, therefore, are
not to be subject to such scrutiny under this Chapter.
3. For the purposes of this Chapter the following definitions
shall apply:
(a) "commercial document" means all books, registers, vouchers
and supporting documents, accounts, production and
quality records, and correspondence relating to the under
taking's business activity, as well as commercial data, in
whatever form they may take, including electronically
stored data, in so far as these documents or data relate
directly or indirectly to the transactions referred to in
paragraph 1;
(b) "third party" means any natural or legal person directly or
indirectly connected with transactions carried out within the
financing system by the EAGF.
Article 80
Scrutiny by Member States
1. Member States shall carry out systematic scrutiny of the
commercial documents of undertakings taking account of the
nature of the transactions to be scrutinised. Member States shall
ensure that the selection of undertakings for scrutiny gives the
best possible assurance of the effectiveness of the measures for
preventing and detecting irregularities. The selection shall take
account, inter alia, of the financial importance of the under
takings in that system and of other risk factors.
2. In appropriate cases, the scrutiny provided for in
paragraph 1 shall be extended to natural and legal persons
with whom undertakings are associated and to such other
natural or legal persons as may be relevant for the pursuit of
the objectives set out in Article 81.
3. The scrutiny carried out pursuant to this Chapter shall not
prejudice the checks undertaken pursuant to Articles 47 and 48.
Article 81
Objectives of the scrutiny
1. The accuracy of primary data under scrutiny shall be
verified by a number of cross-checks, including, where
necessary, the commercial documents of third parties, appro
priate to the degree of risk presented, including:
(a) comparisons with the commercial documents of suppliers,
customers, carriers and other third parties;
(b) physical checks, where appropriate, upon the quantity and
nature of stocks;
(c) comparison with the records of financial flows leading to or
consequent upon the transactions carried out within the
financing system by the EAGF; and
(d) checks, in relation to bookkeeping, or records of financial
movements showing, at the time of the scrutiny, that the
documents held by the paying agency by way of justifi
cation for the payment of aid to the beneficiary are accurate.
2. In particular, where undertakings are required to keep
particular book records of stock in accordance with Union or
national provisions, scrutiny of those records shall, in appro
priate cases, include a comparison with the commercial
documents and, where appropriate, with the actual quantities
in stock.
3. In the selection of transactions to be checked, full account
shall be taken of the degree of risk presented.
Article 82
Access to commercial documents
1. The persons responsible for the undertaking, or a third
party, shall ensure that all commercial documents and
additional information are supplied to the officials responsible
for the scrutiny or to the persons authorised to carry it out on
their behalf. Electronically stored data shall be provided on an
appropriate data support medium.
2. The officials responsible for the scrutiny or the persons
authorised to carry it out on their behalf may require that
extracts or copies of the documents referred to in paragraph
1 be supplied to them.
3. Where, during scrutiny carried out pursuant to this
Chapter, the commercial documents maintained by the under
taking are considered inadequate for scrutiny purposes, the
undertaking shall be directed to maintain in future such
records as are required by the Member State responsible for
the scrutiny, without prejudice to obligations laid down in
other Regulations relating to the sector concerned.
Member States shall determine the date from which such
records are to be established.
Where some or all of the commercial documents required to be
scrutinised pursuant to this Chapter are located with an under
taking in the same commercial group, partnership or
association of undertakings managed on a unified basis as the
undertaking scrutinised, whether located inside or outside the
territory of the Union, the undertaking shall make those
commercial documents available to officials responsible for
the scrutiny, at a place and time to be determined by the
Member States responsible for carrying out the scrutiny.
EN
4. Member States shall ensure that officials responsible for
scrutiny are entitled to seize commercial documents, or have
them seized. This right shall be exercised with due regard to the
relevant national provisions and shall be without prejudice to
the application of rules governing proceedings in criminal
matters concerning the seizure of documents.
Article 83
Mutual assistance
1. Member States shall assist each other for the purposes of
carrying out the scrutiny provided for in this Chapter in the
following cases:
(a) where an undertaking or third party is established in a
Member State other than that in which payment of the
amount in question has or should have been made or
received;
(b) where an undertaking or third party is established in a
Member State other than that in which the documents
and information required for scrutiny are to be found.
The Commission may coordinate joint actions involving mutual
assistance between two or more Member States.
2. During the first three months following the EAGF
financial year of payment, Member States shall send the
Commission a list of undertakings established in a third
country for which payment of the amount in question has or
should have been made or received in that Member State.
3. If additional information is required in another Member
State as part of the scrutiny of an undertaking in accordance
with Article 80, and in particular cross-checks in accordance
with Article 81, specific scrutiny requests may be made indi
cating the reasons for the request. An overview of such specific
requests shall be sent to the Commission on a quarterly basis
within one month after the end of each quarter. The
Commission may require that a copy of individual requests be
provided.
The scrutiny request shall be fulfilled not later than six months
after its receipt; the results of the scrutiny shall be
communicated without delay to the requesting Member State
and to the Commission. The communication to the
Commission shall be on a quarterly basis within one month
after the end of each quarter.
Article 84
Programming
1. Member States shall draw up programmes for scrutiny to
be carried out pursuant to Article 80 during the subsequent
scrutiny period.
2. Each year, before 15 April, Member States shall send the
Commission their programme as referred to in paragraph 1 and
shall specify:
(a) the number of undertakings to be scrutinised and their
breakdown by sector on the basis of the amounts relating
to them;
(b) the criteria adopted for drawing up the programme.
3. The programmes established by the Member States and
forwarded to the Commission shall be implemented by the
Member States, if, within eight weeks, the Commission has
not made known its comments.
4. Paragraph 3 shall apply mutatis mutandis to the
amendments to the programme made by the Member States.
5. At any stage, the Commission may request the inclusion
of a particular category of undertaking in the programme of a
Member States.
6. Undertakings for which the sum of the receipts or
payments amounted to less than EUR 40 000 shall be
scrutinised in accordance with this Chapter only for specific
reasons to be indicated by the Member States in their annual
programme referred to in paragraph 1 or by the Commission in
any proposed amendment to that programme. In order to take
account of economic developments, the Commission shall be
Article 115 modifying the threshold of EUR 40 000.
Article 85
Special departments
1. In each Member State, a special department shall be
responsible for monitoring the application of this Chapter.
Those departments shall, in particular, be responsible for:
(a) the performance of the scrutiny provided for in this Chapter
by officials employed directly by that special department; or
(b) the coordination and general surveillance of the scrutiny
carried out by officials belonging to other departments.
Member States may also provide that scrutiny to be carried out
pursuant to this Chapter is allocated between the special
departments and other national departments, provided that
the former is responsible for its coordination.
2. The department or departments responsible for the appli
cation of this Chapter shall be organised in such a way as to be
independent of the departments or branches of departments
responsible for the payments and the scrutiny checks carried
out prior to payment.
3. In order to ensure that this Chapter is properly applied,
the special department referred to in paragraph 1 shall take all
the measures necessary, and it shall be entrusted by the Member
State concerned with all the powers necessary, to perform the
tasks referred to in this Chapter.
EN
4. Member States shall adopt appropriate measures to
penalise natural or legal persons who fail to fulfil their
obligations under this Chapter.
Article 86
Reports
1. Before 1 January, following the scrutiny period, Member
States shall send the Commission a detailed report on the appli
cation of this Chapter.
2. The Member States and the Commission shall have regular
exchanges of views on the application of this Chapter.
Article 87
Access to information and scrutiny by the Commission
1. In accordance with the relevant national laws,
Commission officials shall have access to all documents
prepared either with a view to or following the scrutiny
organised under this Chapter and to the data held, including
those stored in the data-processing systems. That data shall be
provided upon request on an appropriate data support medium.
2. The scrutiny referred to in Article 80 shall be carried out
by the officials of the Member States. Officials of the
Commission may participate in that scrutiny. They may not
themselves exercise the powers of scrutiny accorded to
national officials. However, they shall have access to the same
premises and to the same documents as the officials of the
Member States.
3. In the case of scrutiny taking place under Article 83,
officials of the requesting Member State may be present, with
the agreement of the requested Member State, at the scrutiny in
the requested Member State and have access to the same
premises and the same documents as the officials of that
Member State.
Officials of the requesting Member State present at scrutiny in
the requested Member State shall at all time be able to furnish
proof of their official capacity. The scrutiny shall at all times be
carried out by officials of the requested Member State.
4. Without prejudice to the provisions of Regulations (EU,
Euratom) 883/2013 and (Euratom, EC) No 2185/96, where
national provisions concerning criminal procedure reserve
certain acts for officials specifically designated by the national
law, neither the officials of the Commission, nor the officials of
the Member State referred to in paragraph 3, shall take part in
these acts. In any event, they shall, in particular not take part in
home visits or the formal interrogation of persons in the
context of the criminal law of the Member State concerned.
They shall, however, have access to information thus obtained.
Article 88
Commission powers
The Commission shall, where necessary, adopt implementing
acts laying down rules for the uniform application of this
Chapter and in particular relating to the following:
(a) the performance of the scrutiny referred to in Article 80 as
regards the selection of undertakings, rate and the calendar
for the scrutiny;
(b) the conservation of commercial documents and the types of
documents to maintain or data to record;
(c) the performance and coordination of joint actions referred
to in Article 83(1);
(d) the details and specifications regarding the content, form
and means of submission of requests, the content, form
and means of notification, submission and exchange of
information required in the framework of this Chapter;
(e) conditions and means of publication or specific rules and
conditions for the diffusion or making available by the
Commission to the competent authorities of the Member
States of the information needed in the framework of this
Regulation;
(f) the responsabilities of the special department referred to in
Article 85;
(g) the content of reports referred to in Article 86.
CHAPTER IV
Other provisions on checks and penalties
Article 89
Other checks and penalties related to marketing rules
1. Member States shall take measures to ensure that the
products referred to in Article 119(1) of Regulation (EU)
No 1308/2013 which are not labelled in conformity with the
provisions of that Regulation are not placed on, or are
withdrawn from, the market.
2. Without prejudice to any specific provisions which may
be adopted by the Commission, imports into the Union of the
products specified in points (a) and (b) of paragraph 1 of
Article 189 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 shall be subject
to checks to determine whether the conditions provided for in
paragraph 1 of that Article are met.
3. Member States shall carry out checks, based on a risk
analysis, in order to verify whether products referred to in
Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 conform to the
rules laid down in Section I of Chapter I of Title II of Part II
of Regulation (EU) No /2013 and shall apply administrative
penalties as appropriate.
EN
4. Without prejudice to acts regarding the wine sector
adopted on the basis of Article 64, in the event of infringement
of Union rules in the wine sector, Member States shall apply
proportionate, effective and dissuasive administrative penalties.
Such penalties shall not apply in the cases set out in points (a)
to (d) of Article 64(2) and where the non-compliance is of a
minor nature.
5. In order to protect Union funds and the identity, prov
enance and quality of Union wine, the Commission shall be
Article 115 relating to:
(a) the establishment of an analytical databank of isotopic data
to help detect fraud to be constructed on the basis of
samples collected by Member States;
(b) rules on control bodies and the mutual assistance between
them;
(c) rules on the common use of the findings of Member States;
down all measures necessary for:
(a) the procedures relating to Member States' own databanks
and to the analytical databank of isotopic data that will help
detect fraud;
(b) the procedures relating to cooperation and assistance
between control authorities and bodies;
(c) as regards the obligation referred to in paragraph 3, rules
for performing the checks of compliance with marketing
standards, rules on the authorities responsible for
performing the checks, as well as on the content, the
frequency and the marketing stage to which those checks
are to apply.
Article 90
Checks related to designation of origin and geographical
indications and protected traditional terms
1. Member States shall take the necessary steps to stop
unlawful use of protected designations of origin, protected
geographical indication and protected traditional terms
referred to in Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013.
2. Member State shall designate the competent authority
responsible for carrying out the checks in respect of the
obligations laid down in Section II of Chapter I of Title II of
Part 2 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 in accordance with the
criteria laid down in Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004
of the European Parliament and of the Council (
1
) and shall
ensure that any operator complying with those obligations is
entitled to be covered by a system of checks.
3. Within the Union, annual verification of compliance with
the product specification, during the production and during or
after conditioning of the wine shall be ensured by the
competent authority referred to in paragraph 2 or by one or
more control bodies within the meaning of point 5 of the
second subparagraph of Article 2 of Regulation (EC)
No 882/2004 operating as a product certification body in
accordance with the criteria laid down in Article 5 of that
Regulation.
4. The Commission shall, adopt implementing acts
concerning the following:
(a) the communications to be made by the Member States to
the Commission;
(b) rules on the authority responsible for the verification of
compliance with the product specification, including
where the geographical area is in a third country;
(c) the actions to be implemented by the Member States to
prevent the unlawful use of protected designations of
origin, protected geographical indications and protected
traditional terms;
(d) the checks and verification to be carried out by the Member
States, including testing.
TITLE VI
CROSS-COMPLIANCE
CHAPTER I
Scope
Article 91
General principle
1. Where a beneficiary referred to in Article 92 does not
comply with the rules on cross-compliance as laid down in
Article 93, an administrative penalty shall be imposed on that
beneficiary.
2. The administrative penalty referred to in paragraph 1 shall
only apply where the non-compliance is the result of an act or
omission directly attributable to the beneficiary concerned; and
where one, or both, of the following additional conditions are
met:
(a) the non-compliance is related to the agricultural activity of
the beneficiary;
(b) the area of the holding of the beneficiary is concerned.
EN
(
1
) Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 29 April 2004 on official controls performed to ensure
the verification of compliance with feed and food law, animal health
and animal welfare rules (OJ L 165, 30.4.2004, p. 1).
With regard to forest areas, however, this penalty shall not
apply in so far as no support is claimed for the area
concerned in accordance with point (a) of Article 21(1), and
Articles 30 and 34 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013.
3. For the purpose of this Title the following definitions shall
apply:
(a) 'holding' means all the production units and areas managed
by the beneficiary referred to in Article 92 situated within
the territory of the same Member State;
(b) "requirement" means each individual statutory management
requirement under Union law referred to in Annex II within
a given act, differing in substance from any other
requirements of the same act.
Article 92
Beneficiaries concerned
Article 91 shall apply to beneficiaries receiving direct payments
under Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013, payments under Articles
46 and 47 of Regulation (EU) No 1308/2013 and the annual
premia under points (a) and (b) of Article 21(1), Articles 28 to
31, 33 and 34 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013.
However, Article 91 shall not apply to beneficiaries partici
pating in the small farmers scheme as referred to in Title V
of Regulation (EU) No 1307/2013. The penalty provided for in
that Article shall also not apply to the support as referred to in
Article 28(9) of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013.
Article 93
Rules on cross-compliance
1. The rules on cross-compliance shall consist of the
statutory management requirements under Union law and the
standards for good agricultural and environmental condition of
land established at national level as listed in Annex II, relating
to the following areas:
(a) environment, climate change and good agricultural
condition of land;
(b) public, animal and plant health;
(c) animal welfare.
2. The legal acts referred to in Annex II concerning the
statutory management requirements shall apply in the version
in force and, in the case of Directives, as implemented by the
Member States.
3. In addition, as regards the years 2015 and 2016, the rules
on cross-compliance shall also include the maintenance of
permanent pasture. The Member States which were Members
of the Union on 1 January 2004 shall ensure that land which
was under permanent pasture on the date provided for in the
area aid applications for 2003 is maintained under permanent
pasture within defined limits. The Member States which became
Member of the Union in 2004 shall ensure that land which was
under permanent pasture on 1 May 2004 is maintained under
permanent pasture within defined limits. Bulgaria and Romania
shall ensure that land which was under permanent pasture on
1 January 2007 is maintained under permanent pasture within
defined limits. Croatia shall ensure that land which was under
permanent pasture on 1 July 2013 is maintained under
permanent pasture within defined limits.
The first subparagraph shall not apply to land under permanent
pasture to be afforested if such afforestation is compatible with
the environment and with the exclusion of plantations of
Christmas trees and fast growing species cultivated in the
short term.
4. In order to take account of paragraph 3, the Commission
shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in accordance with
Article 115 laying down the rules on maintenance of
permanent pasture, in particular in order to ensure that
measures are taken to maintain the land under permanent
pasture at the level of farmers, including individual obligations
to be respected such as obligation to reconvert areas into
permanent pasture where it is established that the ratio of
land under permanent pasture is decreasing.
In order to ensure a correct application of the obligations of the
Member States on the one hand and individual farmers on the
other hand, as regards the maintenance of permanent pasture,
the Commission shall be empowered to adopt delegated acts in
accordance with Article 115 to establish the conditions and
methods for the determination of the ratio of permanent
pasture and agricultural land that has to be maintained.
5. For the purpose of paragraphs 3 and 4, "permanent
pasture" means permanent pasture as defined in point (c) of
Article 2 of Regulation (EC) No 1120/2009 in its original
version.
Article 94
Obligations of Member States relating to good agricultural
and environmental condition
Member States shall ensure that all agricultural area, including
land which is no longer used for production purposes, is main
tained in good agricultural and environmental condition.
Member States shall define, at national or regional level,
minimum standards for beneficiaries for good agricultural and
environmental condition of land on the basis of Annex II,
taking into account the specific characteristics of the areas
concerned, including soil and climatic condition, existing
farming systems, land use, crop rotation, farming practices,
and farm structures.
Member States shall not define minimum requirements which
are not established in Annex II.
EN
Article 95
Information to beneficiaries
Member States shall provide the beneficiaries concerned, where
appropriate by the use of electronic means, with the list of the
requirements and standards to be applied at farm level, as well
as clear and precise information thereon.
CHAPTER II
Control system and administrative penalties in relation to
cross-compliance
Article 96
Checks of cross-compliance
1. Member States shall make use, where appropriate, of the
integrated system laid down in Chapter II of Title V and in
particular of points (a), (b), (d), (e) and (f) of Article 68(1).
Member States may make use of their existing administration
and control systems to ensure compliance with the rules on
cross-compliance.
Those systems, and notably the system for the identification and
registration of animals set up in accordance with Council
Directive 2008/71/EC (
1
) and Regulations (EC) No 1760/2000
and (EC) No 21/2004, shall be compatible with the integrated
system referred to in Chapter II of Title V of this Regulation.
2. Depending on the requirements, standards, acts or areas of
cross-compliance in question, Member States may decide to
carry out administrative checks, in particular those already
provided for under the control systems applicable to the
respective requirement, standard, act or area of cross-
compliance.
3. Member States shall carry out on-the-spot checks to verify
whether a beneficiary complies with the obligations laid down
in this Title.
down rules on the carrying out of checks in order to verify
compliance with the obligations referred to under this Title,
including rules allowing that risk analysis takes account of the
following factors:
(a) a farmer's participation in the farm advisory system as
provided for in Title III of this Regulation;
(b) a farmer's participation in a certification system, if it covers
the requirements and standards concerned.
Article 97
Application of the administrative penalty
1. The administrative penalty provided for in Article 91 shall
be imposed where the rules on cross-compliance are not
complied with at any time in a given calendar year ('the
calendar year concerned'), and where the non-compliance in
question is directly attributable to the beneficiary who
submitted the aid application or the payment claim in the
calendar year concerned.
The first subparagraph shall apply mutatis mutandis to bene
ficiaries who are found not to have complied with the rules on
cross-compliance, at any time during three years from 1 January
of the year following the calendar year in which the first
payment was granted under the support programmes for
restructuring and conversion or at any time during one year
from 1 January of the year following the calendar year in which
the payment was granted under the support programmes for
green harvesting referred to in Regulation (EU) No 1308/
2013('the years concerned').
2. In cases in which the land is transferred during the
calendar year concerned or the years concerned, paragraph 1
shall also apply where the non-compliance in question is the
result of an act or omission directly attributable to the person
to whom or from whom the agricultural land was transferred.
By way of derogation from the first sentence, where the person
to whom the act or omission is directly attributable has
submitted an aid application or a payment claim in the
calendar year concerned or the years concerned, the adminis
trative penalty shall be imposed on the basis of the total
amounts of the payments referred to in Article 92 granted or
to be granted to that person.
For the purpose of this paragraph, 'transfer' means any type of
transaction whereby the agricultural land ceases to be at the
disposal of the transferor.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, and subject to the rules to
be adopted pursuant to Article 101, Member States may decide
not to apply an administrative penalty per beneficiary and per
calendar year when the amount of the penalty is EUR 100 or
less.
Where a Member State decides to make use of the option
provided for in the first subparagraph, the competent
authority shall, for a sample of beneficiaries, take in the
following year the actions necessary to verify that the bene
ficiary has remedied the findings of non-compliance concerned.
The finding and the obligation to take remedial action shall be
notified to the beneficiary.
4. The imposition of an administrative penalty shall not
affect the legality and regularity of the payments to which it
applies.
EN
(
1
) Council Directive 2008/71/EC of 15 July 2008 on the identification
and registration of pigs (OJ L 213, 8.8.2008, p. 31).
Article 98
Application of the administrative penalty in Bulgaria,
Croatia and Romania
For Bulgaria and Romania, the administrative penalties referred
to in Article 91 shall be applied at the latest from 1 January
2016 as regards the statutory management requirements in the
area of animal welfare referred to in Annex II.
For Croatia, the penalties referred to in Article 91 shall be
applied in accordance with the following time schedule as
regards the statutory management requirements (SMR) referred
to in Annex II:
(a) from 1 January 2014 for SMR 1 to SMR 3 and SMR 6 to
SMR 8;
(b) from 1 January 2016 for SMR 4, SMR 5, SMR 9 and
SMR 10;
(c) from 1 January 2018 for SMR 11 to SMR 13.
Article 99
Calculation of the administrative penalty
1. The administrative penalty provided for in Article 91 shall
be applied by means of reduction or exclusion of the total
amount of the payments listed in Article 92 granted or to be
granted to the beneficiary concerned in respect of aid appli
cations he has submitted or will submit in the course of the
calendar year of the finding.
For the calculation of those reductions and exclusions, account
shall be taken of the severity, extent, permanence and reoc
currence of the non-compliance found as well as of the
criteria set out in paragraphs 2, 3 and 4.
2. In the case of non compliance due to negligence, the
percentage of reduction shall not exceed 5 % and, in the case
of reoccurrence, shall not exceed 15 %.
Member States may set up an early warning system that applies
to cases of non-compliance which, given their minor severity,
extent and duration, shall not, in duly justified cases, lead to a
reduction or exclusion. Where a Member State decides to make
use of this option, the competent authority shall send an early
warning to the beneficiary, notifying the beneficiary of the
finding and the obligation to take remedial action. In case a
subsequent check establishes that the non-compliance has not
been remedied, the reduction pursuant to the first subparagraph
shall be applied retroactively.
However, cases of non-compliance which constitute a direct risk
to public or animal health shall always lead to a reduction or
exclusion.
Member States may give priority access to the farm advisory
system to the beneficiaries who have received for the first time
an early warning.
3. In the case of intentional non-compliance, the percentage
reduction shall in principle not be less than 20 % and may go
as far as total exclusion from one or several aid schemes and
may apply for one or more calendar years.
4. In any event, the total amount of reductions and
exclusions for one calendar year shall not be more
than the total amount referred to in the first subparagraph of
paragraph 1.
Article 100
Amounts resulting from cross-compliance
Member States may retain 25 % of the amounts resulting from
the application of the reductions and exclusions referred to in
Article 99.
Article 101
Commission powers in relation to the application and
calculation of administrative penalties
1. In order to ensure a correct distribution of the funds to
the entitled beneficiaries and that cross-compliance is carried
out in an efficient, coherent and non-discriminatory way, the
accordance with Article 115:
(a) establishing a harmonised basis for calculation of adminis
trative penalties due to cross-compliance referred to in
Article 99, taking into account reductions due to financial
discipline;
(b) laying down the conditions for the application and calcu
lation of the administrative penalties due to cross-
compliance, including in the case of non-compliance
directly attributable to the beneficiary concerned.
down detailed procedural and technical rules concerning the
calculation and application of administrative penalties referred
to in Articles 97 to 99, including as regards beneficiaries
consisting of a group of persons under Articles 28 and 29 of
Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013.
TITLE VII
COMMON PROVISIONS
CHAPTER I
Communication
Article 102
Communication of information
1. In addition to the provisions laid down in the sectoral
Regulations, Member States shall send to the Commission the
following information, declarations and documents:
(a) for accredited paying agencies and accredited coordinating
bodies:
EN
(i) their accreditation document;
(ii) their function (accredited paying agency or accredited
coordinating body);
(iii) where relevant, the withdrawal of their accreditation,
(b) for certification bodies:
(i) their name;
(ii) their address,
(c) for measures relating to operations financed by the Funds:
(i) declarations of expenditure, which also act as payment
requests, signed by the accredited paying agency or the
accredited coordinating body and accompanied by the
requisite information;
(ii) estimates of their financial requirements, with regard to
the EAGF and, with regard to the EAFRD, an update of
estimated declarations of expenditure which will be
submitted during the year and estimated declarations
of expenditure in respect of the following financial year;
(iii) the management declaration and the annual accounts of
the accredited paying agencies;
(iv) an annual summary of the results of all available audits
and checks carried out in accordance with the schedule
and detailed provisions laid down in the sector specific
rules.
The annual accounts of accredited paying agencies relating to
EAFRD expenditure shall be submitted at the level of each
programme.
2. Member States shall inform the Commission in detail of
the measures taken to implement the good agricultural and
environmental condition referred to in Article 94 and the
details of the farm advisory system referred to in Title III.
3. Member State shall inform the Commission regularly of
the application of the integrated system referred to in Chapter II
of Title V. The Commission shall organise exchanges of views
on this subject with the Member States.
Article 103
Confidentiality
1. Member States and the Commission shall take all
necessary steps to ensure the confidentiality of the information
communicated or obtained under inspection and clearance of
accounts measures implemented under this Regulation.
The rules laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (Euratom, EC)
No 2185/96 shall apply to that information.
2. Without prejudice to national provisions relating to legal
proceedings, information collected in the course of scrutiny as
provided for in Chapter III of Title V shall be protected by
professional secrecy. It shall not be communicated to any
persons other than those who, by reason of their duties in
the Member States or in the institutions of the Union, are
required to have knowledge thereof for the purposes of
performing those duties.
Article 104
Commission powers
The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down
rules on:
(a) the form, content, intervals, deadlines and arrangements for
transmitting or making available to the Commission:
(i) declarations of expenditure and estimates of expen
diture and their updates, including assigned revenue;
(ii) management declaration and annual accounts of the
paying agencies, as well as the results of all available
audits and controls carried out;
(iii) the account certification reports;
(iv) the names and particulars of accredited paying
agencies, accredited coordinating bodies and certifi
cation bodies;
(v) arrangements for taking account of and paying expen
diture financed by the Funds;
(vi) notifications of financial adjustments made by Member
States in connection with rural development operations
or programmes, and summary reports on the recovery
procedures undertaken by the Member States in
response to irregularities;
(vii) information on the measures taken pursuant to
Article 58.
(b) the arrangements governing exchanges of information and
documents between the Commission and the Member
States, and the implementation of information systems,
including the type, format and content of data to be
processed by these systems and the corresponding data
storage rules;
(c) the notification to the Commission by Member States of
information, documents, statistics and reports, as well as
the deadlines and methods for their notification.
EN
CHAPTER II
Use of the euro
Article 105
General principles
1. The amounts given in the Commission decisions adopting
rural development programmes, the amounts of commitments
and payments by the Commission and the amounts of expen
diture attested or certified and amounts in declarations of
expenditure by the Member States shall be expressed and paid
in euro.
2. The prices and amounts fixed in the sectoral agricultural
legislation shall be expressed in euro.
They shall be granted or collected in euro in the Member States
which have adopted the euro and in the national currency in
the Member States which have not.
Article 106
Exchange rate and operative event
1. The prices and amounts referred to in Article 105(2) shall
be converted in the Member States which have not adopted the
euro into the national currency by means of an exchange rate.
2. The operative event for the exchange rate shall be:
(a) the completion of customs import or export formalities in
the case of amounts collected or granted in trade with third
countries;
(b) the event whereby the economic objective of the operation
is attained in all other cases.
3. Where a direct payment as provided for in Regulation
(EU) No 1307/2013 is made to a beneficiary in a currency
other than the euro, Member States shall convert the amount
of aid expressed in euro into the national currency on the basis
of the most recent exchange rate set by the European Central
Bank prior to 1 October of the year for which the aid is
granted.
By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, Member
States may decide, in duly justified cases, to carry out the
conversion on the basis of the average of the exchange rates
set by the European Central Bank during the month prior to 1
October of the year for which the aid is granted. Member States
that choose that option shall set and publish that average rate
before 1 December of that year.
4. As regards EAGF, when drawing up their declarations of
expenditure, Member States which have not adopted the euro
shall apply the same exchange rate as that which they used to
make payments to beneficiaries or receive revenue, in
accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.
5. In order to specify the operative event referred to in
paragraph 2 or to fix it for reasons peculiar to the market
organisation or the amount in question, the Commission shall
Article 115, containing rules on those operative events and
the exchange rate to be used. The specific operative event
shall be determined taking account of the following criteria:
(a) actual applicability as soon as possible of adjustments to the
exchange rate;
(b) similarity of the operative events for analogous operations
carried out under the market organisation;
(c) coherence in the operative events for the various prices and
amounts relating to the market organisation;
(d) practicability and effectiveness of checks on the application
of suitable exchange rates.
6. In order to avoid the application by the Member States
which have not adopted the euro of different exchange rates in
accounts of revenue received or aid paid to beneficiaries in a
currency other than the euro, on the one hand, and in the
establishment of the declaration of expenditure drawn up by
the paying agency, on the other, the Commission shall be
Article 115 laying down rules on the exchange rate applicable
when declarations of expenditure are drawn up and when
public storage operations are recorded in the accounts of the
paying agency.
Article 107
Safeguard measures and derogations
1. The Commission may adopt implementing acts safe
guarding the application of Union law if exceptional
monetary practices related to national currency are likely to
jeopardise it. Those implementing acts may only derogate
from the existing rules for a period of time which is strictly
necessary.
The European Parliament, the Council and the Member States
shall be notified forthwith of the measures referred to in the
first subparagraph.
2. Where exceptional monetary practices concerning a
national currency are liable to jeopardise the application of
Union law, the Commission shall be empowered to adopt
delegated acts in accordance with Article 115 derogating from
this Section, in particular in the following cases:
(a) where a country uses abnormal exchange techniques such as
multiple exchange rates or operates barter agreements;
(b) where countries have currencies which are not quoted on
official foreign exchange markets or where the trend in such
currencies is likely to create distortion in trade.
EN
Article 108
Use of the euro by non-euro Member States
1. If a Member State which has not adopted the euro decides
to pay the expenditure resulting from sectoral agricultural legis
lation in euro rather than in its national currency, the Member
State shall take measures to ensure that the use of the euro does
not provide a systematic advantage compared with the use of
national currency.
2. The Member State shall notify the Commission of the
measures planned before they come into effect. The measures
may not take effect until the Commission has notified its
agreement thereto.
CHAPTER III
Report and evaluation
Article 109
Annual financial report
By end September of each year following the budget year, the
Commission shall draw up a financial report on the adminis
tration of the Funds during the previous financial year, which it
shall submit to the European Parliament and the Council.
Article 110
Monitoring and evaluation of the CAP
1. A common monitoring and evaluation framework shall be
established with a view to measuring the performance of the
CAP, and in particular of:
(a) the direct payments provided for in Regulation (EU)
No 1307/2013;
(b) the market measures provided for in Regulation (EU)
No 1308/2013;
(c) the rural development measures provided for in Regulation
(EU) No 1305/2013 and of,
(d) the provisions of this Regulation.
The Commission shall monitor these policy measures based on
reporting by Member States in accordance with the rules laid
down in the Regulations referred to in the first subparagraph.
The Commission shall establish a multiannual evaluation plan
including periodic evaluations of specific instruments which it
will carry out.
In order to ensure an effective performance measurement, the
accordance with Article 115 regarding the content and
construction of that framework.
2. The performance of the CAP measures referred to in
paragraph 1 shall be measured in relation to the following
objectives:
(a) viable food production, with a focus on agricultural income,
agricultural productivity and price stability;
(b) sustainable management of natural resources and climate
action, with a focus on greenhouse gas emissions, biodi
versity, soil and water;
(c) balanced territorial development, with a focus on rural
employment, growth and poverty in rural areas.
The Commission shall adopt implementing acts, laying down
the set of indicators specific to the objectives referred to in the
first subparagraph. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in
accordance with the examination procedure referred to in
Article 116(3).
The indicators shall be linked to the structure and objectives of
the policy and shall allow for the assessment of the progress,
effectiveness and efficiency of the policy against objectives.
3. The monitoring and evaluation framework shall reflect the
structure of the CAP in the following way:
(a) for the direct payments provided for in Regulation (EU)
No 1307/2013, the market measures provided for in Regu
lation (EU) No 1308/2013 and the provisions of this Regu
lation, the Commission shall monitor these instruments
based on reporting by Member States in accordance with
the rules laid down in these regulations. The Commission
shall establish a multi-annual evaluation plan with periodic
evaluations of specific instruments to be carried out under
Commission responsibility. Evaluations shall be carried out
timely and by independent evaluators.
(b) the monitoring and evaluation of rural development policy
intervention will be carried out according to Articles 67 to
79 of Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013.
The Commission shall ensure that the combined impact of all
CAP instruments referred to in paragraph 1 is measured and
assessed in relation to the common objectives referred to in
paragraph 2. The performance of the CAP in achieving its
common objectives shall be measured and assessed on the
basis of common impact indicators, and the underlying
specific objectives on the basis of result indicators. Based on
evidence provided in evaluations on the CAP, including evalu
ations on rural development programmes, as well as other
relevant information sources, reports on measuring and
assessing the joint performance of all CAP instruments shall
be prepared by the Commission.
4. Member States shall provide the Commission with all the
information necessary to permit the monitoring and evaluation
of the measures concerned. As far as possible, such information
shall be based on established sources of data, such as the Farm
Accountancy Data Network and Eurostat.
The Commission shall take into account the data needs and
synergies between potential data sources, in particular their
use for statistical purposes when appropriate.
EN
The Commission shall adopt implementing acts, laying down
rules on the information to be sent by the Member States,
taking into account the need to avoid any undue administrative
burden, as well as rules on the data needs and synergies
between potential data sources. Those implementing acts shall
be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure
5. The Commission shall present an initial report on the
implementation of this Article, including first results on the
performance of the CAP, to the European Parliament and the
Council by 31 December 2018. A second report including an
assessment of the performance of the CAP shall be presented by
31 December 2021.
CHAPTER IV
Transparency
Article 111
Publication of beneficiaries
1. Member States shall ensure annual ex-post publication of
the beneficiaries of the Funds. The publication shall contain:
(a) without prejudice to the first paragraph of Article 112 of
this Regulation, the name of the beneficiary, as follows:
(i) the first name and the surname where the beneficiary is
a natural person;
(ii) the full legal name as registered where the beneficiary is
a legal person with the autonomous legal personality
pursuant to the legislation of the Member State
concerned;
(iii) the full name of the association as registered or
otherwise officially recognised where the beneficiary is
an association without an own legal personality;
(b) the municipality where the beneficiary is resident or is
registered and, where available, the postal code or the part
thereof identifying the municipality;
(c) the amounts of payment corresponding to each measure
financed by the Funds received by each beneficiary in the
financial year concerned;
(d) the nature and the description of the measures financed by
either of the Funds and under which the payment referred
to in point (c) is awarded.
The information referred to in the first subparagraph shall be
made available on a single website per Member State. It shall
remain available for two years from the date of the initial
publication.
2. As regards the payments corresponding to the measures
financed by the EAFRD as referred to in point (c) of the first
subparagraph of paragraph 1, the amounts to be published shall
correspond to the total public funding, including both the
Union and the national contribution.
Article 112
Threshold
Member States shall not publish the name of a beneficiary as
provided for in point (a) of the first subparagraph of
Article 111(1) of this Regulation in the following situations:
(a) in the case of Member States establishing the Small farmers
scheme provided for in Title V of Regulation (EU)
No 1307/2013, where the amount of aid received in one
year by a beneficiary is equal to or less than the amount
fixed by the Member State as referred to in the second
subparagraph of Article 63(1) or the second subparagraph
of Article 63(2) of that Regulation;
(b) in the case of Member States not establishing the Small
farmers scheme provided for in Title V of Regulation (EU)
No 1307/2013, where the amount of aid received in one
year by a beneficiary is equal to or less than EUR 1 250.
Where point (a) of the first subparagraph applies, the amounts
fixed by the Member States pursuant to Article 63 of Regulation
(EU) No 1307/2013 and notified to the Commission under that
Regulation shall be made public by the Commission in
accordance with the rules adopted under Article 114.
Where the first paragraph of this Article applies the Member
States shall publish the information referred to in points (b), (c)
and (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 111(1) and the
beneficiary shall be identified by a code. Member States shall
decide on the form of that code.
Article 113
Information of the beneficiaries
Member States shall inform the beneficiaries that their data will
be made public in accordance with Article 111 and that the
data may be processed by auditing and investigating bodies of
the Union and the Member States for the purpose of safe
guarding the Union's financial interests.
In accordance with the requirements of Directive 95/46/EC,
where personal data is concerned, the Member States shall
inform the beneficiaries of their rights under the data protection
rules and of the procedures applicable for exercising those
rights.
Article 114
Commission powers
rules on:
(a) the form, including the way of presentation by measure,
and the calendar of the publication foreseen in Articles
111 and 112;
(b) the uniform application of Article 113;
EN
(c) the cooperation between the Commission and Member
States.
TITLE VIII
FINAL PROVISIONS
Article 115
Exercise of the delegation
1. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles
8, 20, 40, 46, 50, 53, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72, 76, 77, 79,
84, 89, 93, 101, 106, 107, 110 and 120 is conferred on the
Commission subject to the conditions laid down in this Article.
2. The power to adopt delegated acts referred to in Articles
8, 20, 40, 46, 50, 53, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72, 76, 77, 79,
84, 89, 93, 101, 106, 107, 110 and 120 shall be conferred on
the Commission for a period of seven years from the date of
entry into force of this Regulation. The Commission shall draw
up a report in respect of the delegation of power not later than
nine months before the end of the seven-year period. The
delegation of power shall be tacitly extended for periods of
an identical duration, unless the European Parliament or the
Council opposes such extension not later than three months
before the end of each period.
3. The delegation of powers referred to in Articles 8, 20, 40,
46, 50, 53, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72, 76, 77, 79, 84, 89, 93,
101, 106, 107, 110 and 120 may be revoked at any time by
the European Parliament or by the Council. A decision to
revoke shall put an end to the delegation of the power
specified in that decision. It shall take effect the day following
the publication of the decision in the Official Journal of the
European Union or at a later date specified therein. It shall not
affect the validity of any delegated acts already in force.
4. As soon as it adopts a delegated act, the Commission shall
notify it simultaneously to the European Parliament and to the
Council.
5. A delegated act adopted pursuant to in Articles 8, 20, 40,
46, 50, 53, 57, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 72, 76, 77, 79, 84, 89, 93,
101, 106, 107, 110 and 120 shall enter into force only if no
objection has been expressed either by the European Parliament
or the Council within a period of two months of notification of
that act to the European Parliament and the Council or if,
before the expiry of that period, the European Parliament and
the Council have both informed the Commission that they will
not object. That period shall be extended by two months on the
initiative of the European Parliament of the Council.
Article 116
Committee procedure
1. The Commission shall be assisted by a committee named
the Committee on the Agricultural Funds. That committee shall
be a committee within the meaning of Regulation (EU)
No 182/2011.
For the purposes of Articles 15, 58, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 75, 77,
78, 89, 90, 96, 101 and 104, as regards matters relating to
direct payments, rural development and/or the common organi
sation of markets, the Commission shall be assisted by the
Committee on the Agricultural Funds, the Committee for
Direct Payments, the Rural Development Committee and/or
the Committee for the Common Organisation of the Agri
cultural Markets established by this Regulation, Regulation
(EU) No 1307/2013, Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 and Regu
lation (EU) No 1308/2013, respectively. Those committees shall
be committees within the meaning of Regulation (EU)
No 182/2011.
2. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 4 of
Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 shall apply.
3. Where reference is made to this paragraph, Article 5 of
In the case of acts referred to in Article 8, where the committee
delivers no opinion, the Commission shall not adopt the draft
implementing act and the third subparagraph of Article 5(4) of
Article 117
Processing and protection of personal data
1. Member States and the Commission shall collect personal
data for the purpose of carrying out their respective
management, control, audit as well as monitoring and
evaluation obligations under this Regulation and, in particular,
those laid down in Chapter II of Title II, Title III, Chapters III
and IV of Title IV, Titles V and VI and Chapter III of Title VII, as
well as for statistical purposes, and shall not process this data in
a way that is incompatible with that purpose.
2. Where personal data are processed for monitoring and
evaluation purposes under Chapter III of Title VII, as well as
for statistical purposes, they shall be made anonymous and
processed in aggregated form only.
3. Personal data shall be processed in accordance with the
rules of Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001. In
particular, such data shall not be stored in a form which enables
data subjects to be identified for longer than is necessary for the
purposes for which those data were collected or for which they
are further processed, taking into account the minimum
retention periods laid down in the applicable national and
Union law.
4. Member States shall inform the data subjects that their
personal data may be processed by national and Union bodies
in accordance with paragraph 1 and that in this respect they
enjoy the rights set out in the respective data protection rules of
Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001.
5. This Article shall be subject to Articles 111 to 114.
EN
Article 118
Level of implementation
Member States shall be responsible for implementing
programmes and carrying out their tasks under this Regulation
at the level they deem appropriate, in accordance with the
institutional, legal and financial framework of the Member
State and subject to compliance with this Regulation and
other relevant Union rules.
Article 119
Repeal
1. Regulations (EEC) No 352/78, (EC) No 165/94, (EC)
No 2799/98, (EC) No 814/2000, (EC) No 1290/2005 and (EC)
No 485/2008 are repealed.
However, Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 1290/2005 and the
relevant implementing rules shall continue to apply until
31 December 2014.
2. References to the repealed Regulations shall be construed
as references to this Regulation and shall be read in accordance
with the correlation table set out in Annex III.
Article 120
Transitional measures
In order to ensure the smooth transition from the arrangements
provided for in the repealed Regulations referred to in
Article 118 to those laid down in this Regulation, the
accordance with Article 115 concerning the cases in which
derogations from, and additions to, the rules provided for in
this Regulation may apply.
Article 121
Entry into force and application
1. This Regulation shall enter into force on the day of its
publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
It shall apply from 1 January 2014.
2. However, the following provisions shall apply as follows:
(a) Articles 7, 8, 16, 25, 26 and 43 from 16 October 2013;
(b) Articles 18 and 40, for expenditure effected, from
16 October 2013;
(c) Article 52 from 1 January 2015.
This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.
Done at Brussels, 17 December 2013.
For the European Parliament
The President
M. SCHULZ
For the Council
The President
V. JUKNA
EN
ANNEX I
INFORMATION IN THE FIELD OF CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION, BIODIVERSITY
AND THE PROTECTION OF WATER AS LAID DOWN IN POINT (D) OF ARTICLE 12(3)
Climate change mitigation and adaptation:
Information on the prospective impact of climate change in the relevant regions, of the green house gas emissions of
the relevant farming practices and on the contribution of the agricultural sector to mitigation through improved
farming and agroforestry practices and through the development of renewable energy projects on farm and energy
efficiency improvement on farm.
Information helping farmers to plan how best to invest in "climate-proofing" their farm systems, and which Union
funds they can use to do so; and in particular, information on adapting farmland to climatic fluctuations and longer
term changes and information on how to adopt practical agronomic measures to increase the resilience of farming
systems to floods and droughts as well as information on how to improve and optimise soil carbon levels.
Biodiversity:
Information on the positive correlation between biodiversity and agro-ecosystem resilience, and the spreading of risk,
and also the link between monocultures and susceptibility to crop failure/damage from pests and extreme climatic
events
Information on how to best prevent the spread of alien invasive species and why this is important for the effective
functioning of the ecosystem and for its resilience to climate change, including information on access to funding for
eradication schemes where additional costs are implied
Protection of water:
Information on sustainable, low-volume irrigation systems and how to optimise rain-fed systems, in order to promote
efficient water use.
Information on reducing water use in agriculture, including crop choice, on improving soil humus to increase water
retention and on reducing the need to irrigate.
General:
Exchange of best practice, training and capacity building (applicable to Climate change mitigation and adaptation,
Biodiversity and Protection of water as mentioned above in this Annex).
EN
ANNEX II
RULES ON CROSS-COMPLIANCE PURSUANT TO ARTICLE 93
SMR: Statutory management requirement
GAEC: Standards for good agricultural and environmental condition of land
Area Main Issue Requirements and standards
Environment,
climate change,
good agri
cultural
condition of
land
Water SMR 1 Council Directive 91/676/EEC of 12 December 1991
concerning the protection of waters against pollution
caused by nitrates from agricultural sources (OJ L 375,
31.12.1991, p. 1)
Articles 4 and
5
GAEC 1 Establishment of buffer strips along water courses (
1
)
GAEC 2 Where use of water for irrigation is subject to authori
sation, compliance with authorisation procedures
GAEC 3 Protection of ground water against pollution: prohibition
of direct discharge into groundwater and measures to
prevent indirect pollution of groundwater through
discharge on the ground and percolation through the
soil of dangerous substances, as listed in the Annex to
Directive 80/68/EEC in its version in force on the last
day of its validity, as far as it relates to agricultural
activity
Soil and
carbon stock
GAEC 4 Minimum soil cover
GAEC 5 Minimum land management reflecting site specific
conditions to limit erosion
GAEC 6 Maintenance of soil organic matter level through appro
priate practices including ban on burning arable stubble,
except for plant health reasons (
2
)
Biodiversity SMR 2 Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament and
of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the conser
vation of wild birds (OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7)
Article 3(1),
Article 3(2)(b),
Article 4(1),
(2) and (4)
SMR 3 Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the
conservation of natural habitats and of wild flora and
fauna (OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7)
Article 6(1)
and (2)
Landscape,
minimum
level of
maintenance
GAEC 7 Retention of landscape features, including where appro
priate, hedges, ponds, ditches, trees in line, in group or
isolated, field margins and terraces, and including a ban
on cutting hedges and trees during the bird breeding and
rearing season and, as an option, measures for avoiding
invasive plant species
Public health,
animal health
and plant
health
Food safety SMR 4 Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 28 January 2002
laying down the general principles and requirements of
food law, establishing the European Food Safety
Authority and laying down procedures in matters of
food safety (OJ L 31, 1.2.2002, p. 1)
Articles 14
and 15,
Article17(1) (
3
)
and Articles
18, 19 and 20
EN
Area Main Issue Requirements and standards
SMR 5 Council Directive 96/22/EC of 29 April 1996
concerning the prohibition on the use in stockfarming
of certain substances having a hormonal or thyrostatic
action and beta-agonists, and repealing Directives
81/602/EEC, 88/146/EEC and 88/299/EEC (OJ L 125,
23.5.1996, p. 3)
Article 3(a),
(b), (d) and (e)
and Articles 4,
5 and 7
Identification
and regis
tration of
animals
SMR 6 Council Directive 2008/71/EC of 15 July 2008 on
identification and registration of pigs (OJ L 213,
8.8.2005, p. 31)
Articles 3, 4
and 5
SMR 7 Regulation (EC) No 1760/2000 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 17 July 2000 estab
lishing a system for the identification and registration of
bovine animals and regarding the labelling of beef and
beef products and repealing Council Regulation (EC)
No 820/97(OJ L 204, 11.8.2000, p. 1)
Articles 4 and
7
SMR 8 Council Regulation (EC) No 21/2004 of 17 December
2003 establishing a system for the identification and
registration of ovine and caprine animals and
amending Regulation (EC) No 1782/2003 and Directives
92/102/EEC and 64/432/EEC (OJ L 5, 9.1.2004, p. 8)
Articles 3, 4
and 5
Animal
diseases
Parliament and of the Council of 22 May 2001 laying
down rules for the prevention, control and eradication of
certain transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (OJ
L 147, 31.5.2001, p. 1)
Articles 7, 11,
12, 13 and 15
Plant
protection
products
Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009
concerning the placing of plant protection products on
the market and repealing Council Directives 79/117/EEC
and 91/414/EEC (OJ L 309, 24.11.2009, p. 1)
Article 55,
first and
second
sentence
Animal welfare Animal
welfare
SMR 11 Council Directive 2008/119/EC of 18 December 2008
laying down minimum standards for the protection of
calves (OJ L 10, 15.1.2009, p. 7)
Articles 3
and 4
SMR 12 Council Directive 2008/120/EC of 18 December 2008
laying down minimum standards for the protection of
pigs (OJ L 47, 18.2.2009, p. 5)
Article 3 and
Article 4
SMR 13 Council Directive 98/58/EC of 20 July 1998 concerning
the protection of animals kept for farming purposes(OJ
L 221, 8.8.1998, p. 23)
Article 4
(
1
) The GAEC buffer strips must respect, both within and outside vulnerable zones designated pursuant to Article 3(2) of Directive
91/676/EEC, at least the requirements relating to the conditions for land application of fertiliser near water courses, referred to in point
A.4 of Annex II to Directive 91/676/EEC to be applied in accordance with the action programmes of Member States established under
Article 5(4) of Directive 91/676/EEC.
(
2
) The requirement can be limited to a general ban on burning arable stubble, but a Member State may decide to prescribe further
requirements.
(
3
) As implemented in particular by:
Article 14 of Regulation (EC) No 470/2009 and the Annex of Regulation (EC) No 37/2010,
Regulation (EC) No 852/2004: Article 4(1) and Annex I part A (II 4 (g, h, j), 5 (f, h), 6; III 8 (a, b, d, e), 9 (a, c)),
Regulation (EC) No 853/2004: Article 3(1) and Annex III Section IX Chapter 1 (I-1 b, c, d, e; I-2 a (i, ii, iii), b (i, ii), c; I-3; I-4; I-5;
II-A 1, 2, 3, 4; II-B 1(a, d), 2, 4 (a, b)), Annex III Section X Chapter 1(1),
Regulation (EC) No 183/2005: Article 5(1) and Annex I, part A (I-4 e, g; II-2 a, b, e), Article 5(5) and Annex III (1, 2), Article 5(6),
and
Regulation (EC) No 396/2005: Article 18.
EN
ANNEX III
CORRELATION TABLE
1. Regulation (EEC) No 352/78
Regulation (EEC) No 352/78 This Regulation
Article 1 Article 43(1)(e)
Article 2 Article 43(2)
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
2. Regulation (EC) No 2799/98
Regulation (EC) No 2799/98 This Regulation
Article 1
Article 2 Article 105(2) and 106
Article 3 Article 106
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
Article 9
Article 10
Article 11
Article 3
Article 4
Article 5
Article 6
Article 7
Article 9
Article 10 Articles 45(4) and 116
Article 11
EN
Article 1 Article 1
Article 2 Article 3
Article 3 Article 4
Article 4 Article 5
Article 5 Article 6
Article 6 Article 7
Article 7 Article 9
Article 17a Article 41(2)
Article 32 Article 54 and 55
Article 33 Article 54 and 56
EN
Article 35
Article 38
Article 39
Article 40
Article 42
Article 45 Article 105(1) and 106(3) and (4)
Article 46
Article 4
Article 5 Article 82(1), (2) and (3)
Article 13
Article 14
Article 16
Article 17
EN
Joint statement by the European Parliament and the Council on cross-compliance
The Council and the European Parliament invite the Commission to monitor the transposition and the
implementation by the Member States of Directive 2000/60/EC of 23 October 2000 establishing a
framework for Community action in the field of water policy and Directive 2009/128/EC of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 21 October 2009 establishing a framework for Community
action to achieve the sustainable use of pesticides and, where appropriate, to come forward, once these
Directives have been implemented in all Member States and the obligations directly applicable to farmers
have been identified, with a legislative proposal amending this regulation with a view to including the
relevant parts of these Directives in the system of cross-compliance.
EN

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